Don't Let your guard down!
by Schicksal-TillMyLastBreath
Summary: Raven hopes Soma will look back at her, but what if she didn't see the longing glances of Soma from afar? Raven's given a mission, a mission that can save the whole world. One choice becomes a sacrifice in saving the whole world in exchange for herself. SomaXProtagonist
1. Longing glances

Author's Note: Hey guys! It's my first time writing a Gods Eater Burst Fanfic, and I just finished the game. ^_^ Well, the protagonists here are my character in GEB and Soma Schicksal…

I'll give you a hint on what she looks like:

Raven Jackson, 16 years old, 5'6,

Light pink hair tied into a side ponytail, Green eyes,

God arc: The Evil One X, Rejector X, Stella Swarm, Assault Lieutenant

_I do not own Gods Eater Burst._

_Protagonist's POV_

I was sitting down at the seats available near the hallway of the Veteran's Section. Even though we managed to bring Lindow back, the aragami haven't lessened at all. Well, that's the point of being a Gods Eater.

I was beside the vending machine where Ren once stood. I remember him smiling happily while buying the juice old man Sakaki created. I drop money on the machine and a can of juice labled, "First Love Juice" fell in my hands.

I don't open it and just hold it I guess. His sacrifice for our survival can't get out of my mind anyway, the elevator doors open and Soma enters. He casually walks in, I actually like Soma to be honest. I first thought he was just a big jerk but as time passed, I developed special feelings for him.

"Hey Soma." I greet with a smile, he just nods in my way and walks in his room. "Ignoring me again?" I say to myself and chuckle. I wonder what it feels to have someone important to you to die in front of your eyes.

_Shio and Eric_… two of them died in a mission with Soma but that's something I can't blame him. I never ever looked at Soma as a monster, I always felt he had a very caring side buried deep inside of him and I think only Shio managed to dig it out.

I open the can and took a sip, it tasted good I guess. Not bad. I wonder if Shio will like it. I laugh to myself because Shio's always talking about food. I liked Shio since she was cute and like a little sister to me. I wonder why the other Gods Eaters hate this juice?

The elevator doors open again and Alisa walks in, "Leader!" she greeted me. "Hey Alisa." I greet back.

"Can you believe it? Kota actually handled a Kongou by himself today!" Alisa informed me while whipping her hair away from her face.

"Eh? But Kota seems strong for me Alisa." I answer honestly, although he's quite a carefree one.

"Hmm, I guess you're right." Alisa admitted while looking away.

"Oh? Do you like Kota or something?" I tease her and her pale face brightens to a shade of pink.

"N-No! He has a frivolous attitude and.. and.."

"Okay, I get it. I get it. Calm down." I say and Alisa's face was still flustered. "I'm leaving!" she calls out and leaves.

"Yup. She likes him."

"First Unit Leader!" a voice calls out. I look back and see Tatsumi waving at me. He runs to me and puts his arm around my neck.

"Hey listen. What approach should I use to talk to Hibari?" he whispers to me.

_What a hopeless guy._

"Well, you could invite her to dinner or something." I suggested. "I tried that approach already and she refused but I'll try again." He responds.

I see Lindow walk out of the elevator and he sees me. "Hey rookie, I mean, Leader! What's up?"

"Well, Tatsumi's hitting on Hibari again." I answer with a sigh, an idea pops out and I whisper something to Lindow.

"Ooh. Nice plan." He answers and we grin at the plan.

"Hibari, Roses are red, violets are blue, I like you, and will you like me back too?" Tatsumi recited, not bad I guess.

"Maybe." Hibari answered and Tatsumi's face lights up. "Hibari." Lindow calls out.

"Lindow?" Hibari turns around and Lindow casually places his arm over the desk and leans his body.

"I want to invite you to dinner tonight, wanna come?" he asks.

"Sure, I'd love to." Hibari replies and Tatsumi's face darkens.

"But! Hibari!" Tatsumi cries out and Hibari rolls her eyes. "Where perhaps?"

"At my room." Lindow answers with a big smile, I was really trying to hold back and not punch Lindow for his acting skills.

"HOLD IT!" Tatsumi cries out, almost everybody looks at him.

"I won't allow it Hibari!" he announces.

"Huh? Why?" Hibari asks.

"Because I like you!" Tatsumi reasons, "I know that." Hibari answers.

"And don't you have Sakuya, Lindow?" Tatsumi argues. "Well, I don't mind having Hibari in my place tonight."

Everyone's faces turns red except for Lindow, Good thing Sakuya's not here or else Lindow's dead.

"Not in my watch!" Tatsumi shouts and grabs Hibari and he pulls her to the elevator.

"So, how was my acting Leader?" Lindow asks me. I facepalm and nod, "It looks real. I can't believe it worked."

"Thanks. Well, I better get back now. See ya!" Lindow calls out and heads out to eat some giant corn on the cob.

"Hey Leader." A familiar voice calls out. I look back to see Soma holding his God Arc over his shoulder.

"Hey Soma." I answer back. "Sakaki told me to help you gather some magmatic Gboro-bros' parts."

"Oh yeah. Thanks for the help Soma." I thank him and he answers, "Yeah."

We stand on standby on the post at Infernal Subway.

"Hey Soma. There's one. Near the dead-end." I point at the Gboro-bro. Soma nods and holds his God Arc in position. We could see the magmatic Gboro-bro nearing our post.

"Don't let your guard down." We both say, I was quite startled and so was Soma. I can't tell him that I actually made the effort to gather all the parts to craft The Evil One since I want us to be similar.

"Soma." I say and he nods, the Gboro-bro was just below us, we stay still and it began to move. We jumped and slashed the Gboro-bro. The Gboro-bro managed to tackle me, giving me slight damage.

"What an eye sore." Soma says and gives the Gboro-bro a Charge Crush on the head. The Gboro-bro was down and I was preparing my God Arc to devour it.

"Watch out!" Soma cries out and opens his shield just in time. I look back and saw two Gboro-bros firing Flame bombs at us. Soma was being pushed back by the force but he managed to protect me.

"I said, Don't let your guard down!" Soma says and I nod, I change into gun mode and passed Aragami Bullets at him.

The Gboro-bros charged at us and we look at each other and nod. The Gboro-bros were near now, just in perfect distance for us.

"Eat this!" We shout and devour them in the faces, well; it wasn't long before we defeated them and got their cores.

"Hey, let's head back." Soma says, I was leaning my back near the dead Gboro-bros body. I was exhausted, since it was hot and all.

"Can you let me rest for a while…?" I ask weakly and Soma decides to sit beside me.

"No good huh?" he asks me and I nod. "I forgot to bring items." I laugh and he hands me a Recovery Pill.

"Hey, thanks." I answer and swallow it, I can feel a little of my strength coming back. I wasn't scared since Sakaki said that the Subway will be clear and he guessed that the Aragami will come back for a day or two and we already got the cores.

It wasn't long before the Gboro-bros body sunk into the abyss and I leaned my body near an old post. Soma wasn't talking but he was just standing there while I was recovering.

"Hey Soma."

"Yeah?"

"Do you like someone here?"

"..."

"Shio?"

He was silent but I knew his silence meant no arguments so I think it was a "Yes." I was getting thirsy and I staggered to stand up.

Soma caught me and I looked into his eyes, "Sorry." I apologized, and he took something out of his pocket and handed me a can of Juice.

"How did you know..?" I asked, it was First Love Juice. "You like it? I thought I might give it a try but I'll give it to you." He answered and I opened it and drank it, it was really good. The next thing was kind of unexpected.

Soma made me put my left arm around his neck and he held his God Arc in his right hand, "I'll help you." He said and I didn't hesitate.

I was kind of happy Soma is doing this for me, "I'm just doing this so you won't get in my way." He told me and I didn't respond. I wanted him to carry me in his back but this is enough.

It wasn't long enough before we reached The Den and Federico seemed surprised by my arrival. "Is she okay?" he asks Soma, Soma doesn't respond and I manage to look up.

"Don't worry, I'm fine Federico." I answer and I try to take my arm off Soma's neck but I felt that Soma was gripping my wrist, as if not to let me go. "Want me to take you to my room since it's the nearest?" he suggested and tried to take me from Soma.

"Don't get in my way." Soma threatened and Federico stopped, "I'm Okay, Federico. I'll let Soma take me since we're in the same section."

"Oh yeah, you're right. Get well." He waved and we went in the Elevator. "Do you want me to take you to Sick Bay?" Soma asked.

"Nah. Thank you Soma for today." I managed to say before blacking out.

I woke up in a room and walked over to the Terminal to gather some items. But for some reason, I can't seem to open it. I can't even view the files.

"You can't open that since you're in my room." A voice called out, it was Soma. "Huh? But couldn't you have brought me to my room instead since it was just near?" I asked.

"You were getting heavier since you blacked out and for some reason, the door is stuck in your room." He said, "What about Sakuya's then?" I asked, "Also locked up."

I sigh and decided to head out to Sick Bay, "Um, I'm heading to Sick Bay?" I ask him and when I opened the knob, it was stuck. "I don't know what happened." He answered before I asked my question.

I was panicking right now, I'm all alone with my crush on my crush's bedroom. And then the worst thing happened, the lights went out. "What the hell?" Soma asked.

Then for some reason somebody was knocking at the door, "Hey Soma, this is me, Kota. Are you in there?"

"Yeah, I'm here but for some reason the door is stuck and the lights went out."

"The Den is having some problems right now."

"Kota!" I called out.

"Whoa! Leader?! What are you doing inside Soma's room?!" Kota exclaimed.

"It's not what you think. Soma brought me here to help me recover."

"I don't know what that means but I'll try to help you guys out when the problems are over."

It was dark and I can't see a thing, and I keep tripping over the room. "Hey, watch it." Soma says and I could hear his voice, it was quite near though.

I crawl and blindly waved my arm around the room, as if to find him. I touched something warm and felt the warmth of skin. "Soma?" I ask, "Yeah." He answers and I try to position myself beside him.

I accidently touch his hand and I flinch a bit, I wonder if I can hold his hand? "Hey Soma."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for helping me out today."

I was kind of nervous but I'm glad it's dark since he can't see my blushing face. "Do you miss Shio?" I ask him, whenever I remember Shio my heart swells up but if it's Shio, I'll let her have Soma.

"Sometimes." He admitted, I don't have a very good singing voice but I try to sing Shio's song. When I finished the song, tears were running down my face and I let out a small whimper, "I miss her."

I leaned my head at Soma's shoulder and he lets me cry. "It's okay to cry when you're sad." He told me and I let it all out, I always thought since I was a leader, I must stay strong but this is the first time I ever cried in front of another comrade.

"Thanks Soma." I say.

As I wipe my tears, I didn't realize it but I was holding Soma's hand…

_Soma's hand…. Soma's hand… Soma's hand…..__ Soma's hand…..__Soma's hand….__Soma's hand…._

"I'm so sorry Soma! I didn't realize I was holding your hand!" I apologize franticly, "Huh? It's okay." He admitted**. **"You don't mind?" I ask him, "Shut up." He answers and outstretches his hand, I think about hesitating but I take his hand.

I felt him going near my face, I could hear him breathing, "Close your eyes." He ordered me, I closed my eyes and waited for him to kiss me.

"GUYS! The Den is now okay, you can now get out!" Kota shouted at the door. I heard him being punched and I could hear Sakuya's, Alisa's and Lindow's voices.

"Don't spoil the moment, Kota!" It was Lindow's voice.

"We don't want them to be interrupted now, do we?" It was Sakuya.

"I rather won't, Sakuya. Soma might kill you Kota." And Alisa...

I blushed at the voices and Soma stood up and I also stood up.

"Som-!"

Before I even had the chance to finish what I say, Soma already stopped me with his lips pressed against mine. "See ya." He said and went out of the room.

When I went out, Sakuya and Alisa we're looking at me with their faces red.

"Her hair is messed up, her eyes are red as if from crying, and she's blushing hard and her clothes are dirty." Alisa said as if she was studying me.

"Lindow, you don't think, they did _it?" _Sakuya asked.

"I don't know, but I saw Soma was mad and blushing too. We spoiled the moment I think." Lindow agreed.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked them.

"Nothing~!" They responded in harmony.

"Oh yeah, Raven. Can you be one of my bride's maid?" Sakuya pleaded, "Oh, for your wedding? Of course." I answer, the wedding is a week away after all.

"Alisa's gonna be one too and her partner is Kota. You can pick anyone." Sakuya suggested. I looked at Alisa and grinned, "Really? That's good news."

Alisa was blushing and Kota was trying to get up, "Hey, how about Brendan? He's a cool guy." Kota suggested, well, Brendan is calm and cool but I want Soma but I can't force him to do that.

"Well, Brendan may do so Brendan it is." I answer and I suddenly felt a murderous aura around Kota and I.

I left Kota to be beaten around and I went to the Elevator to get to the Entrance. I went down and saw Tatsumi hanging around the 2nd and 3rd Unit. "Hey First Unit Leader." He greeted me, almost everybody here calls my Leader.

"Oh hey guys!" I greeted, "Have you guys seen Brendan?" I ask. Tatsumi looks at Shun and Shun nods, "I saw him with Karel." I look at Karel and he shows me an outstretched hand, "Money." I hand him money and get the information I wanted.

I run to the Merchant and he greets me, "Hey Missy, find anything you want?" he asks, "Oh no, I just wanted to ask if Brendan's around?"

"Hmm, I think I saw him going to the Elevator just now." He answers, ."Thank you!"

I was waiting for the Elevator and to my surprise, when it opened I saw Soma. He seemed shocked but let me in. "Which Section?" he asks me, "To the Laboratory." I answer and it was kind of awkward.

When I went out, Soma also followed me. "Soma? Are you going here too?" I ask him, he nods. "Hey Soma." I ask and he looks at me.

"What?"

"Why did you kiss me?" I ask him, I can't believe I'm asking him.

"That was just an accidental bump." He answered, Of course, why would Soma kiss me anyway?

"Okay then, let's just pretend nothing happened." I suggested and knocked into the Sick Bay area. "Yes?" Kanon answers the door and I nod, "I need to see Brendan Bardell of the Defense Squad." I answer, she lets me in and I see Brendan.

"How about you Soma?" she asks Soma, "I need to hand some papers to Brendan from Tsubaki Amamiya." He answers and she lets us in.

"What's up?" Brendan asks me, "Brendan, I want you to be my partner in Sakuya and Lindow's marriage." I ask him, he thinks of it and nods. "Sure." He answers and looks at Soma. "Hey, what do you need?" he asks.

"Oh, here are papers from Tsubaki and from the Director." He hands a brown envelope and leaves, "Soma!" I call out, he looks back and I could see his eyes were cold once again. "Never mind." I said and he leaves. "Well, thanks for the invitation." Brendan says and pats me on the shoulder.

"Kanon, who's your partner?" I ask her, "Maybe Karel, I wonder if he's free? Or maybe Shun." She answers and I nod.

After 5 days of the usual killing of Aragami, the dress for the marriage finally arrived.

Alisa and I went to Sakuya's room to help her fit her dress. "Oh my, you look so beautiful, Sakuya!" I complimented, she was beautiful but now she looked more beautiful. "Thanks."

"I agree Leader, now, Shall we prepare our dress?" Alisa asks. We planned that the 2 days before marriage is gonna be practice for the Final Day.

We went to my room and I fitted my dress, "I was scared it might not fit me in the waist, but it did." I said, "Nonsense, you have a great figure Leader!" Alisa said, when we were done we went out and Kanon and the other girls were outside waiting for us.

"You guys look cute." Gina complimented, "Thank you, you guys look pretty too." Alisa replied, our dress was a plain white knee length dress with a rose on the middle and it was a sleeveless, the armlet was in the way though.

We went out and to our surprise Tsubaki was in a dress too, it looked like her previous outfit but lost the sleeves and the pants and it was long too.

"Nice outfit Tsubaki."

"Thank you. Now off to the Garden outside." She ordered and we rode the elevator, we stopped by the entrance and we met the boys. Kota cut his hair and I could see Alisa blushing because Kota did look cool when he had his haircut.

We walked to our partners and I saw Kanon's partner was Soma, I guess they were the only two left who didn't have any so they paired up. "Hey, you look great." Brendan greeted, "You look cool too." I answer, it was true though, Brendan did look good.

Some of the girls were looking at Soma, I guess it was the first time for them to see him without a hood. I saw him without a hood only once and it was when Shio left.

"Okay. Now hold your partner in the hand and boys, lead the girls outside, keep a straight line." Tsubaki ordered, I was in the 3rd row since I'm one of the bride's maid.

The flower girls were Annette and two girls, one had long silver hair while the other one had brown hair and she was the one who always talked about flowers. Federico and a young boy are the ring bearers I guess.

Alisa and Kota were the first bride's maid and best man so they went in and Brendan and I were second, Soma and Kanon were behind me and along with Tatsumi and Hibari, Karel and Gina and Shun and Licca.

Alisa and Kota went first and we followed, we were said to just find our places and finish the wedding. After that, there will be final dance and then a feast.

"Okay, since you all know what to do, we must now next, practice the dance." Tsubaki announced. The dance was supposed to be a dance Lindow taught to Sakuya, we had to follow them and all.

"Shall we dance?" Brendan asked and showed me an outstretched hand. I took the hand and danced along with Brendan, it was fun I guess. It was kinda funny since Sakuya kept on stepping on Lindow's foot and Lindow kept getting hurt.

Tatsumi and Hibari were fighting I guess since Tatsumi always forgets the moves, Karel and Gina were trying their hardest to follow the moves, Shun and Licca kept goofing off and Kota seems to dance well except that Alisa always steps on his foot.

I glance at Soma and saw him doing well with Kanon except that I can see he seemed a little unfocused and would always go off in another world and Kanon seemed to have a hard time dancing with him since he was quite tall.

"Kanon Daiba and Soma." Tsubaki called out, Soma snapped out and looked at her. Everyone stopped dancing too. "You seem to have a difficulty in handling each other so I shall switch Soma to the First Unit Leader."

They nodded and we switched, it was kind of awkward when dancing with Soma. I had to hold his hand and place my hand on his shoulder while he had my hips on his hand.

"Hey." He said, "What?" The music kept playing so we had to keep dancing.

"Stay focused on dancing will you." He said and I danced, I tried not to look at him in the eye and kept dancing. I kept looking at Brendan and Kanon to see how they were doing and Kanon seemed to get the hang of it.

"Hey." He repeated, "What?" I asked, not looking at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking at your partner while dancing?" he said and I tried to look at him in the eye. It was kind of awkward especially after he kissed me.

When practice was over, Soma took my hand and led me to the Veteran's Section. "You. Do you like Brendan?" he asked me.

"Huh? What's this all about?" _He's jealous?_

"Answer my question will you." He said, Hmm, I do like him.. But not that kind of _like._

"I like him. As a friend and as a comrade." I answer.

"Do you like somebody here?" he asks me while putting his arms on the wall, cornering me and putting his face near me.

"Soma? What are you doing?" I ask him, why is he putting his face near mine?

"Do you _like_ somebody here?"

When did Soma become so forceful? "Hey Soma! That's a little too.. personal!"

"Well, I do, and it's you." He says and I look at him. I was doubting him and I was about to ask.

"By the way, that kiss wasn't an accidental bump."

I could see he was serious and he placed his lips on mine and we kissed.

*SNAP*

We were startled and looked back, it was Sakuya with a camera and all the members of the Den were looking at us.

"Oops, they saw us." Lindow said.

"Well my, my.." Sakuya teased.

"Well now, is that you guys kissing?"

"Urgh," I stammered.

"Hey~! When did you guys get all chummy?" Kota asked.

"B-beats me." Soma replied while looking away, he was blushing.

"Congratulations!"

_I love you too._ I replied back to him.


	2. Conflict

**A.N: Heya guys! I'm such a useless author in many ways -_- Not updating for how many months? I lost count already… so yeah, I'm gonna update or put a bonus chapter since you guys love this fanfic so much. Anyways, Soma might change **_**a lot**_** on this fanfic since I haven't played the game for about 6 months? And I'm not sure if I got Soma's character right… since in the first chapter I was such a big Soma fan so I managed to capture his personality, anyways, I'm so happy to get a lot of favorites and it's all thanks to you guys so enough about me! Let's go on with the story!**

* * *

So here I am, dating my long time crush and now my current boyfriend, Soma Schicksal. Words can't express how happy I am to be considered the girl who can freely touch him and express my affection towards him without hesitation and I never dreamed this would happen.

"Raven." A voice called out, and it's the one I longed for. I turned around and saw Soma, he just got back from a mission but it was an easy one since he didn't look really tired. "Hey Soma." I replied back, we _are_ dating but I don't wanna rush things yet.

"What's this? Tired?" he teased although he was using his serious tone of voice so I can't really tell. "No. I was just… excited… to see you I guess." I answered timidly, I wasn't used to him teasing me since he was always rude and aloof to people, although he calms down when he's around me.

"Well, here I am now, Raven. I'm back." He says, there was an amused grin on his face. I blush furiously but rush to him and hug him, he freely accepted my bold display of affection and hugged me back.

"I thought that you should tell me if you were leaving, what would happen if you were injured?" I ask him worriedly, he looked at me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Even though his hood was covering his face, I could see the pink tint in his cheeks. "Jeez, it's not like you to worry about me, Raven." He mumbles says and pokes me between the eyebrows, startling me.

"If you keep worrying about me, you'll get that frown embedded on your face." He says and I pout, "I would say the same to you before we dated." I challenged, "But none of that matters now anyways." He replies.

"_I love you."_ I whisper to him, "_I love you too."_ He whispers back and he plants a kiss on my cheek. We were about to kiss on the lips but there was suddenly the sound of the chattering of people, it was coming from the elevator.

"Soma!" a voice called out, it was Alisa and she was with somebody, a new type recruit. Soma just glanced and let go of my arm, even though we are dating, we are trying to keep it a secret. But still, it was kind of lonely.

"Meet Katrina Evans, she's a new type recruit from Canada, she's a formidable opponent in long range combat and good in giving harmful effects to the enemy. Her weakness is that she tends to attack head-on and she's not a really good medic and also she tends to forget to bring items but she's worthy enough to be in your team so can you teach her the ropes of being a veteran?" Alisa asked instantly. She smiled and she handed the data to Soma.

"Why me? Give the data to Hibari. And her? She's none of my business." Soma replied coldly, it's that cool charm he gives off that attracted me to him.

"I know that I should give the data to Hibari but you're going down anyways so I thought I should hand it to you. And everyone's busy so I thought maybe you have some extra time?" Alisa pleaded.

"I just came back from a mission, give it to somebody else. Later." Soma said and headed out to the elevator. Alisa pouted and looked at me as if she was saying, '_Do you seriously like this guy?!'_ and I just gave a reassuring smile back to Alisa.

"Hm. Since Soma is not available, how about you, Raven? You can handle a herd of Vajra yourself without harming yourself critically since you're a lieutenant anyway and an assault one too. So can you please teach Katrina?" she asked me, I look at Alisa then to Katrina, it wasn't really a bad idea.

"Sure. But, treat me 20 recovery pills!" I say and grinned, "Okay whatever, jeez." Alisa replied almost instantly. Katrina stepped forward and bowed politely, "I'm in your care, Ma'am." She said and I smiled back at her. "Call me leader, I like it better that way." I say and laugh.

* * *

Right now, we were at Infernal subway, we will be fighting a herd of cocoon maidens but they're really not something to worry about. "Um, leader. So like, is my weapon good enough for these… creatures?" she asked, I looked at her weapon, it was Magic Wand. Well, compared to my Stella Swarm X it was pretty weak but good enough.

"It's good enough, just keep your head up. And don't let your guard down." I say and we separate, I already managed to kill 5 in less than 2 minutes, normally it would take only 30 seconds or less but I had to find them since they were seperated. "Katrina." I whisper to the earpiece. "Kat? Hey, where are you?"

"Leader? I'm in the east wing, there are some here and I'm outnumbered. I'm fighting them right now—Aah!" she screamed on the earpiece, What? What's going on?

"Kat?! Kat?!" I shout to the earpiece, I can't waste time. I have to go to Katrina!

I run to the east wing, as fast as a cheetah on constipation. "Kat!" I shout, I see her slumped to the ground and she was looking at a magmatic Gboro-boro who was looking back at her. "NO! Stay away from her!" I shout, the Gboro-boro looked up and came to me.

I switch to my gun and shoot at its horn, I missed but the shot was enough to break off the scales of the Gboro-boro. It roared and I looked at Katrina. "Go! Run! Go back to the starting point!" I scream at her, she was frozen with fright but began moving fast when the Gboro-boro pushed me down by hitting me.

I managed to block on of its attacks and I changed to my blade. "Filthy Aragami, you are in the presence "The Evil One" master. And now, go back to the place where you came from." I say and the beast charged, I positioned my blade and gave it a charge, I was preparing for a charge crush. "Eat this!"

I managed to take it down and devoured it, gathering its core. "Mission complete. The same as simulation." I report to the Den, "Alright, good work, Raven. You can go back to the Den now." Hibari says and hangs up. I carry my God arc over my shoulder like Soma, I guess I got influenced.

I head to the starting point and see Katrina, she looked a little guilty. "I'm sorry, Leader. I failed on my first mission." She apologized, she was really depressed. "It's okay, most rookies don't survive on their first mission but it's a good thing you lived." I say, I had Lindow as my guidance so I want to be a good role model for this rookie here…. Unlike Lindow.

I patted her head and that's when I sensed it, that feeling when you feel like as if your heart's stuck on your throat._ A bad omen._ I instantly grabbed her hand and we hid behind a huge debris. "What is it?" she asked, I put my finger over my lips to give her my answer, _Silence. Listen closely. Don't you dare talk._

And out of the shadows, there was a Hannibal. Just the normal one but what's it doing here? I thought the mission was to defeat only one magmatic Gboro-bro. I glanced at Katrina and she was shivering, there was a huge dragon-like aragami in front of her.

"Could it be that you're terrified of aragamis?" I whisper to her, she hesitated and nodded. I'm guessing she's a survivor and her parents got killed, just like Alisa. The Hannibal looked around and took a whiff of the air, it could smell us and I know it.

It walked towards us, its footsteps getting louder as it comes nearer. "Don't let your guard down, rookie." I say and I ran, destroying my cover. The Hannibal spotted me almost immediately, it charged for me; it didn't see Katrina.

I charge head-on giving it several blows on its wrists; I'm going to gain some nice items afterwards. I also slide to the right, careful not to get hit. Katrina was shooting orbs; I now see that she has good aim. Suddenly, I felt a call on the earpiece.

I receive the call and there was kind of a commotion on the other side. "Not now! Say what's important, I'm in a mission with a friggin' Hannibal with a rookie I have to protect!" I shout and Hibari answers, "Hannibal appeared recently on the subway you are in now. I'm sending back-up. Apologies Squad Leader no. 1. Computer failed to detect the Hannibal."

I nod and receive another call, "Raven?" a voice says, it was Soma. "Hey Soma, kind of in a battle here. Ugh!" I say as I get hit in the side by the tail of the Hannibal but I quickly stand up, Katrina failed to dodge it though and she fainted almost immediately.

"Katrina! Hang on!" I say and head to her, I slide under the Hannibal's legs and link-aid her immediately, 20% of my life was left since I had 'Self-sacrifice.' I felt pretty weak even though I had a long life before, I handed most of my energy to Katrina that I think I healed more than 83% of her life!

I eat 3 recovery pills and focus again on the battle, "Raven. I'm here in the Subway, where are you guys?" Soma asks franticly and I chuckle.

"If you can hear some blades clashing then that's where I am and Soma, don't lie. You're right behind me right now, aren't you?"

And as soon as I said that, I felt someone run past me in a fast speed and plunges the same blade I have into the Hannibal's head.

"Sorry I'm late." Soma says and slashed the head of the Hannibal, the Hannibal was knocked out and when it stood up it burst into flames, "Oh gods, Leader. The Hannibal is enranged!" Katrina says and I grin, "And the fun begins."

* * *

"Mission complete." I say and help Katrina stand up, "Nice work, Katrina." I say and she smiles, "Thank you so much, Leader." She thanks me and hugs me tightly. She then looks at Soma and I could see she was making a familiar face.

"And thanks to you to, um.. Schicksal?" she says and holds out her hand.

Soma looks at her hand and turns away, "Let's head back." Soma says and I look at Katrina hopelessly.

I know that face, blushing cheeks, big puppy eyes, acting shy around a boy!

_Oh no, she's in love with Soma!_

* * *

The next day, I dressed in casual attire, I wore a black sleeveless shirt and wore a navy blue jacket over it, I also wore a pair of denim shorts and blue Converse sneakers. When I opened my door, I saw Soma waiting for me.

"Hey Soma!" I greet and he nods, he was wearing a white collared shirt underneath his trademark jacket and he still wore his usual lower bottom, I wonder why he changed his undershirt instead of his whole top?

"You free today?" he asks me, I think about it and nod, "Yeah, I was planning to head to Sakuya's room. Is there anything you would like to discuss?" I ask him and he looks around us, as if someone was listening. He puts his hands inside his pocket and leans in close to my ear.

His breath was hot on my ears and I could feel my face burning, "I was wondering… if you would go with me to a date?" he whispers and I felt butterflies on my stomach. A date with Soma? That's too good t be true!

"Probably." I answer, _why did I say that even though I was __sure__ I would go?!_ Instead, Soma chuckled, amused by my answer and ran his fingers through my hair. "I didn't expect your answer, but you _will_ go, right?" he asks and gives me a smile.

"That's unfair. Using your smile like that…." I stammer and Soma chuckles softly, he would only act like that around me and probably Shio.

He kisses my hand first then my fingers then my pulse. He works his way up, his lips brushing on my arm. When he reached my neck, he kisses it lightly, but pays attention to my pulse. He focuses on my pulse points and when he reaches my cheeks he kisses them softly and he looks into my eyes, those stormy blue eyes… "Raven." He whispers and gives me a knee-weaking, passionate, tender kiss. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead lightly.

"See you later at 2 o'clock pm at this place exactly." Soma says and leaves. I slump down to the floor, blushing. I cover my face with my hands since I was blushing furiously. I can't believe that Soma was so… daring and bold in displaying affection.

I hear footsteps and look up to see Alisa, whom I consider as my sister, "Hey there, leader. Why is your face red?" she asks and sits down next to me. I look at Alisa and hug her, "Alisa! I don't know what to do!" I yelled at Alisa who was startled but smiled back at me.

"Let me guess. It's Soma, isn't it?" Alisa said and I nod. I told her about what happened a while ago and Alisa's pale skin turned into a light shade of pink, "Wow, so bold and daring." Alisa remarks and I nod. "I know right? You wouldn't expect Soma to do that…" I say and we laugh.

* * *

At 12 o'clock Alisa led me to her room and offered to help me dress up for my first date. She wanted to coordinate my outfit, hair and also my make-up, Alisa has very good style and figure so I trust her. She opens her wardrobe and pulls out a lot of dresses.

"Take your pick. Or if you want, you can give me a description of what dress you would like because maybe we can improvise." She offers and I look around her clothes, they were really cute and some were beautiful while others gave off a sexy appeal.

"Well, I would like something comfortable and I prefer the mature and beautiful appearance." I say and Alisa nods, "Mature huh? I think let's go with this dress and let's match it with a silver belt." She says. She holds up a red V-neck sleeveless that goes up to my ankles, it had a thin, red, sequined trim around the side and it gave off a sexy aura since it was also backless. Overall, it looked really extravagant.

"You've got to be kidding me, that's too.. flashy but it looks beautiful though." I comment and Alisa chuckles, "I know but that's why I said we can improvise." She giggles and hurries to her wardrobe and grabs another red dress. It was in the shade of scarlet red and it was also a V-neck sleeveless but it was quite cleavage-showing and it was very similar to the first except it was only shorter.

"How about this?" she asks. I chuckle and apologize to Alisa, "I should've told you it's not an evening date, just an outside date.. You know, a date where we can just go to a garden?" I say and Alisa pondered for a while. "I think I have something here." She says and searches again, after quite a while she squealed in delight.

"Here it is!" she says and holds up a dress. It was a pastel pink balloon dress that reaches my knees and it had ribbons on the middle and there was one big one where you tie it around the back. It was simple but cute. "It's not beautiful or mature but I thought it would suit you." Alisa says and I laugh. "Thanks so much!"

Alisa helps me take off my clothes, she then looks at my figure. It was kind of awkward, standing there naked without a single clothing on but I was sure that Alisa was _really_ examining me and not putting malice on my body.

"You have a nice structure, Leader. You have a tall and slender frame and you have that sexy figure and your muscles are toned in the right places, magnificent. So you would look great in a balloon dress." She remarks and gives me privacy to change into my undergarments.

When she enters, she applied baby pink make-up on me (a little concealer and just a bit of foundation and applying "anime eyes" makeup on my eyes to make them look bigger and a matte pale pink color for my lips) and she also gives me a pedicure and a manicure to go with it. Alisa decides to apply pale pink nail polish on my nails and all that's left was my hair.

"I think it would be best if we left your hair alone since we don't want you to be all dressed up like a doll." Alisa says and I sigh in relief. Good thing there's no more problems about the makeover.

I brush my hair and put it up in my usual hairstyle, a curly side ponytail but this time I used a rose elastic to tie it. Alisa comes back with a pair of heels, they were about 2 inches tall but the thing is, I never wore heels before.

"Don't worry, it may be a little hard to walk in but they're uber comfortable so no worries." Alisa assured and helped my put on my shoes. "Good luck on your date." Alisa says and lets me stand on the other end of her room. She put her arms together and said in a cute voice, "Oh my you're so cute! I call this makeover "Pastel Pink" fashion~!" I blush slightly and Alisa pats my back reassuringly..

"Calm down. Leader is strong and brave and she's the only one who can make Soma act like that!" Alisa assures but deep inside I could feel my heart shouting, _Yeah! Except Shio, the girl who stole his heart first!_ I shake my head, Soma is here and right now he's mine so rest assured. I take a deep breath and look up into the sky. _Oh Shio, please watch over me…_ I think to myself.

I hastily go out of the room and wait for Soma, it was 2:00 sharp and he still wasn't here, "Soma arrives late though." I say to myself but I was starting to get worried, I mean, I dressed up for this and all.

I just sat there, humming a song to myself and I think I could've written the lyrics with them to go with. I didn't know how much time has passed but I felt like I waited so long, I look at the clock, "2:36." I read aloud, even though Soma arrives late, not this late though. I mean, he was the one who invited me.

"I'm so tired. I'll just take a little sleep." I say to myself and close my eyes.

* * *

When I wake up, I want to see those stormy blue eyes locked on mine and those strong arms to wrap around me tightly. I open my eyes and instead, find myself in a familiar room. I jolt up and look around me.

"Oh, you're awake." A voice called, I looked to my right and saw Sakuya. She smiled and walked over to me, "It's about time you woke up. Kota found you asleep outside so I decided to take you in. And I can see you are dressed up for the occasion." She remarks and I forced a laugh.

I was seriously confused, "How long was I asleep?" I asked Sakuya.

"What time did you sleep?" Sakuya asks.

"About 2:40?"

"Then for about 3 hours now, 20 more minutes to make it 4, it's near 6."

I was shocked, 3 hours?! "Did Soma.. err… was anyone looking for me?" I ask her worriedly, "Well, in my case, I haven't heard from anybody. Are you looking for someone perhaps?" she asked and I nod. "It's Soma." I answer sheepishly; Sakuya shakes her head and pats my head.

"I'm sorry to say this but Soma was gone since lunch. He headed out on a mission with the rookie. Did he not tell you?" Sakuya asks.

I did not answer since Sakuya knew it already. I tried to hold my tears back and staggered to stand up. "You can still come to me anytime." Sakuya says and I nod, I was glad that Sakuya didn't ask what's wrong with me. She knew I needed space for a while.

"Thank you for letting my stay." I managed to say but my voice wavered. "Don't choke back the sobs okay. Don't hold it in." Sakuya reminds me and I nod quietly.

By the time, I reached my room, tears were already streaming down my face. My make-up was already ruined but who cares, there's no date anyway.

My first date and it was a disaster, and to think I looked like an idiot, being so excited and stuff. I kept crying and when I looked up I saw the moon looking straight at me. I mean, _literally_ straight at me, I was looking at 2 pairs of red eyes. And they were full of curiosity.

"Raven?"

"Shio..." I managed to answer, it wasn't really her, she was sort of like a ghost but she was solid.

"I thought I'd pay you a visit." She says and I don't hesitate to hug her, "I missed you." I sob and Shio giggles. "It's been a long time since someone touched me. Shio likes it here." Shio says and when I let go of her, she gives me a smile.

"Why are you crying?" Shio asks and wipes away my tears with her thumb. "Nothing. Nothing much. A lot of things happened today." I answer and Shio bends down and peers into my eyes.

"Nothing? But Shio could tell Raven doesn't like what she's feeling right now. Did Shio do something wrong?" she asks and I laugh.

"No, you didn't. I'm fine. Hey, want to meet the others?" I ask and was about to open the door when Shio grabbed my wrist.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you alone. Shio wants to spend some time with Raven." Shio says and I nod. Why would I force her to meet everyone anyway?

Then suddenly, a thought came into my mind. "But, what about Soma, Shio? Don't you want to meet him?!" I ask Shio. Shio gives me a smile, a smile as if she's apologizing. "Soma's not in the mood to talk right now, even to Shio. I could tell since Shio's a part of his God Arc and I could feel Soma's sadness and anger."

I was confused, why was Soma mad? "What are you talking about?" I ask her and Shio sits down on my bed. "Shio doesn't really understand these feelings but I could feel that Soma's really hurt right now. I think Shio can show you!" Shio laughs and holds my hand tightly.

"Wait a minute!" I exclaim but it was too late, my body was already starting to vanish and before I knew it, I was floating. And I felt like I could see into somebody's heart without even trying.

"What did you do to me?" I ask Shio instantly, "Shio made you into an aragami spirit, just like me! I can show you Soma's memories! Let's see if he allows it though.." Shio replies and looks at me and smiles.

"Trust Shio okay? I'll protect you." Shio says and locks her fingers into mine.

I nod and squeeze her hand, "Shio protected us so I'll trust you." I answer truthfully.

We travel into some sort of weird portal and suddenly, Shio stopped. I looked around me, I was standing on nothing, and it was like as if I was standing inside a room full of white wallpaper. I looked above me and gasp, it was like a mirror to the outside world, and this place, it felt powerful and scary at the same time but I could recognize warmth radiating from it.

I look at Shio then look above. There's no mistake, this is Shio's warmth and also Soma's… in one place. And it felt warm, yes, it felt safe and sound just to be here. Shio laughed and she looked eagerly above, "Soma!" she cried. I also looked up, waiting for a response.

But nobody answered, I was starting to get worried, "Shio, where are we?" I ask her, Shio looked at me as if I was a child asking for directions, "We're in Soma's god arc. God arcs are aragamis too right? So, Shio can somehow connect with them but I can only communicate telepathically." Shio answered and looked up again.

"Soma! Soma!" Shio cried over and over again. Shio took a deep breath and said the name with so much feeling with all her might.

"Soma!" Shio called and suddenly the mirror to the outside world was moving, someone was looking at us. I gasped at first because I was startled then I looked closely, those eyes… "It's Soma." I say and felt powerless. Here I am, so happy to see him when I was angry at him just a few moments ago.

"What is it, Shio?" Soma asked in a serious voice. Usually, people would be scared at that tone of voice but Shio simply grinned. "It's been a long time isn't it? Soma, why are you hurt?" Shio asked.

I simply listen to their conversation, it was beautiful really. I could get to see Shio so happy and Soma was there right in front of me and I can look at him for as long as I can without him minding.

"It's complicated Shio. I guess, I hurt someone because I didn't show up..". Soma answered glumly. "Hmm, what did you do?" Shio asked worriedly.

"Well, the girl is someone who I look up to, someone who I admire. She always protected me because it was her duty. And, I asked her out to go out with me and she agreed but I didn't show up." Soma replied uneasily. It was such a sad tone, really. I can't see his face because it was covered with his hood, much covered than usual.

"Hmm.. is that so? Shio always knows that Soma will do the right thing! So, Soma if you don't mind. Can I ask who this girl's name is?" Shio asks and I waited.

Soma looked at the mirror and I saw his eyes, his stormy blue eyes. They really looked like as if there's a storm inside of him, just waiting to go away. I waited for the answer, my heart was beating like crazy and I felt like my throat was stuck in the desert, it was so dry.

* * *

"It's Raven."

* * *

I stood there, dumbfounded. I could hear the words repeating inside my head, my mind just processing it before I actually understood what he had just said. "So.. ma…" I mumbled, Soma was here, regretting what he had done. "I wanted to say sorry to her though but I can't do it. I'll give her some space for a while." Soma answered and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I was glad Soma understood me.

"Soma." Shio calls out, "Hm?" Soma answers, "I think that Raven would forgive Soma since you guys love each other. Soma can't stand it when people get hurt right? But, don't take all of the burdens by yourself okay?" Shio reminds him and Soma looks back.

"When did you start acting cool like that? But thanks, Shio." Soma answers and Shio lets out a giggle.

* * *

I struggled to open my eyes which seemed heavy, I looked around me and saw that I was in my room. "What the heck happened?" I ask myself and looked outside, _Maybe it was all a dream._

I stood up and then I noticed something shiny up ahead, I pick it up and notice a trail of dust. "What's this?" I asked myself and picked it up and sniffed it. "Moon dust?" I guessed and it suddenly glowed. I looked outside again, "So it wasn't a dream…" I mutter to myself. I smile to myself, grateful for Shio's help.

"_Did Shio do a good job?" _

"Yes. Good Job, Shio!"

I looked at the clock and gasped, "Oh no! I'm late! I'm late!" I tell myself frantically and hurriedly dressed up. I wore yellow ranger pants and its top, I also left my hair alone. I had a meeting today with Tsubaki and Paylor and I was an hour late. "I'm in BIG trouble."

By the time I reached the Executive Section, Lindow was already outside. He was smoking a cigarette but when he looked at me, he quickly took it out of his mouth. "Hey there, rookie." He greeted, he was the only one who called me that but I like it better that way.

"Hey Lindow. I'm in a hurry right now so if you don't mi-!"

I was interrupted by a chuckle by Lindow, "What is it?" I ask him defensively. "Oh rookie, you are in big trouble. Big Sis was pacing back and forth impatiently. Expect a punishment. So, good luck, rookie." He says and pats me on the shoulder. "Oh no."

I open the door and enter nervously, "Hey there Paylor and… Miss Tsubaki… err… Lovely day we're having!" I greeted nervously and Tsubaki looked at me as if she was going to snap any minute.

"Miss Jackson. I see you have overslept. A certain morning ruined my day so isn't that lovely?" she asks me and I avoided her gaze. Her voice was strict but I could see that she was nervous to report me what's next.

"Fenrir has noticed that the moon is having problems right now. Nova there seemed to be working again and if it keeps doing it, that _thing_ would probably come back. But, you have your little aragami friend there so I was wondering if you could go to the moon and stop that thing from coming back?" Tsubaki asked but there was a tremble in her voice.

"And if I don't?" I ask her.

"Then the human race will cease to exist."

"Why me?"

"Because, you are suited for this job. You are known worldwide for your contribution in saving the world and the destruction of the Corrosive Hannibal. You, Raven Jackson, are more important than you think. That's why, we are sending you on this mission."

"What will I do there?" I ask them. "You will stop it immediately without hesitation. It's a mission only you can do, Raven. We can't send squads since there has been uprisings lately of the aragami and they keep getting stronger so we need more people here. We will provide the transportation though. But please, Raven. Please choose wisely."

I closed my eyes. If I go there, I can save everybody, the whole world but, I may never see it again. And if I don't, then the whole world will perish more than it already had. "Will I come back?" I ask. They flinched, as if I was holding a bomb that will explode any minute.

"No one knows for sure. But, we are trying to calculate the possibilities." Paylor answers and I nod, a grin spreads across my face. "I'm up for it, Squad Leader of Unit 1 the Preservation Unit!" I answer eagerly and salute. Tsubaki looks at me worriedly and also Paylor although I can't really tell.

"It's okay. I won't let myself get killed by some Aragami. After all, I saved the world once, why can't I do it again?" I say enthusiastically although a little voice at the back of my mind keeps screaming, _You were with a team and Ren but this time you're alone!_

"Okay. You may go now." Paylor said, dismissing me. I bow down politely and turn around; I left the room and walked in a daze. I must've been so absorbed that I bumped into somebody.

"Hey, watch where you're going."

I look up and see Soma, he was startled too. He cringed uneasily and flicked his eyes away from me for a moment. I guess he was still guilty about leaving me from the date but I don't care about that anymore.

"Uh, Raven from yesterday…"

"It's okay. I know you have your reasons, just give me some time to think about… nevermind. Just forget about what happened yesterday."

I walked ahead of him and he grabbed my wrist with such force, pulling me towards him.

"Don't give me that! I want to apologize! I don't want to see you in such a confused condition."

I smiled dryly at him and pushed his hand away from me, "I want you to stay away from me." I say and run away from him.

"_It's a mission only you can do, Raven. We can't send squads since there has been uprisings lately of the aragami and they keep getting stronger so we need more people here. We will provide the transportation though. But please, Raven. Please choose wisely."_

Tsubaki's words keep echoing in my head, "I'm so sorry, Soma." I mutter to myself and slump to the ground. Crying by myself, I looked back at what I did to him.

What if Soma was in my position and he suddenly did that to me with me not knowing what's wrong with him? It must've been painful, but I want it that way.

It'll be much more painful once he learns I won't come back.

"_Don't give up on living. That's an order!"_ I look up and see Lindow. He was still smoking his cigarette although it was quite shorter. "What do you mean?" I ask him. He slumped down next to me, puffing out smoke from his mouth.

"What I'm trying to say is, they're your own orders, better follow them yourself." He said and patted my head.

"Don't carry that burden around by yourself okay?" he says and it results to more sobs. I was choking back these tears but right now, I'm just glad that I have somebody who I can look up to right now, not them looking up on me.

"Feel better?" Lindow asks after I cried my eyes out which were now all puffy and red. "I'm sorry to waste your time." I apologized and Lindow grins, "We're partners. And anyways, this is nothing compared to what've you done to me after I disappeared." He answered and for the first time, I threw my arms around him. It was my second time, hugging a man in Fenrir.

"Thank you Lindow. Thanks for listening." I say and Lindow didn't respond. I let him go and he ruffled his hair uneasily, "Wow. You caught me off guard, rookie." He says and I laugh and playfully punch his arm.

"Anyways, we don't want to get dirty so let's stand up!" he says and I stand up with him. "Gotta go. See ya!" Lindow says and enters the Section Elevator and he waves at me before the door close. I sigh and waited in front of the Section Elevator.

"So, you can tell Lindow but not me?" a voice called out and I looked behind me to see Soma, leaning on the wall. I gasped and fidgeted nervously, "What do you want? I thought I told you to stay away from me." I answer in a cold tone and Soma forcefully grabs my arm and leads me to the Sick bay and throws me into one of the beds.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" I shout at Soma and he pins me down. He threw his body over me, his clench was tight on my wrists and he was above me, he positioned his legs between mine so I can't move basically.

"Hey, maybe you forgot but I learned Judo you know and Judo specializes in submission moves so you can't escape that easily."

* * *

_(__**A.N. Hey, let's add a little twist 'kay? Soma doing Judo… can you imagine that?!)**_

* * *

"What do you want?!" I ask him and he looks at me furiously. He clenched tighter, actually hurting my wrists. I winced in pain and then suddenly, Soma leaned in. I was slow to react then realized Soma had already stolen a kiss from me.

I struggled free but Soma really pinned me down and I could tell from his kiss that he was really regretting something. He let go of me and I gasped for air, "What was that for?" I ask him and he blushes awkwardly, as if he didn't realize what he just did.

"I'm sorry. I was just so mad that…" he muttered and let me go.

_This guy, even though I told him to stay away from me and he still does this to me and blushes cutely like that?! Unforgivable!_

"Soma." I call out and he turns around but I managed to catch him off guard. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his, he was startled for a while but returned the kiss. But this time, it was a gentle kiss. One that was so full of feelings. Feelings of love.

When I let go of him, he obviously turns his gaze away from me. "I'm sorry I didn't go to our date. I was assigned to this mission with this new rookie. She persuaded me to come to the mission but if I refused, she said that she'll steal Kota away from Alisa. Sure, you're thinking she can't do that but Kota was smitten by her when he saw her but still, I didn't want to see Alisa miserable." Soma reasoned out.

I nod and squeezed his hand, "I forgive you. But, can you promise to come to our date next time?" I ask him and he nods and squeezes my hand in agreement.

We were interrupted by a knocking on the room and an injured Katrina enters. There was a thin slash on her shoulder, there was a gauze over it but it was bleeding horribly. "What happened?" I ask Katrina and hurriedly offer a seat. I ripped off the gauze and looked at the wound. It wasn't deep so it was nothing serious.

"Strange. This should've healed at least a bit. I mean, your oracle cells increases your healing rate after all." I say and take a better look of it. "Let me guess, Cocoon maidens?" I ask her and she nods shyly. "How pathetic. To get injured by an _easy_ aragami." She mumbles and I smile weakly at her.

"I'll see what I can do about that. I'm quite a good medic myself. I can do a little first aid." I assure to her and Soma smirks in the process. "Why is it that every time you say that, things don't go well?" He says and I look at him angrily. He just simply grins, amused by my reaction.

I approach her and offer her a recovery pill. She eats it and I pat the blood dry with clean cloth. "This will hurt a bit." I say and dip the cloth in lukewarm water and gently place it over her wound. She winces in pain but calms down immediately.

"It feels good." She says and I offer her medicine. "Here, drink this twice a day, evening and morning and also try not to do anything reckless or you'll open your wound and it'll hurt real bad." I say to her and apply a thin layer of paste that will heal her wound in 2 days. I finish it off by wrapping a wonderfully done gauze on her shoulder.

"Hey Soma." She greets, somehow I don't like the way she greeted Soma. Soma simply looked at her and ignored her. "Thanks for coming with me to the mission yesterday." She says and I flinched, so it was her huh…

"Leader, are you guys going out?" she asks me instantly and I look at Soma nervously who simply looks back at me. "Why would I tell you? Maybe. Maybe not." I answer her and she simply grins. She wisps her bangs away from her face and places her hands on Soma's shoulder. Okay, so that's out of the line!

"Hey!" I call out to her and she looks back at me and grins, "Then you don't mind do you? Since you guys aren't going out anyway." She says and I clenched my fist.

I bit my lower lip and looked at her with my best wolf stare and it actually shaken her a little. "Anyways, So-ma~!" she playfully calls his name and leans forward to kiss him but Soma pushes her away immediately.

She was on the ground, shocked.

"Get off me!" he tells me and protectively wraps his arm around me. "There's only one girl who's lips are allowed to touch mine so back off."

I was startled by Soma's answer and he pulls me away from the Sick Bay and we enter the Section Elevator together. "I'm amazed, Soma." I praise him but he simply stays quiet. "Don't let your guard down." I playfully say and Soma chuckles quietly.

The doors open and I leave since I have to go to get another mission. "See ya' Soma!" I say and wave goodbye to him.

"You know, you're the only one who can greet him like that and act around him like that." Sakuya remarks after I leave the elevator and I simply laugh. Sakuya understands these feelings anyway.

"Are you fine though? It may not look like it but you guys have competitions on both sides. For love that is, you think you can handle that?" Sakuya asks me worriedly and I simply grin.

"Of course, Sakuya." _I love him and that's all I'll do…..till' my last breath._

* * *

**A.N Hey guys! So I decided to make this a sequel but then again, I also decided to make it into 3 chapters. The next chapter may be the finale, once again, I apologize for Soma's OCC-ness and my humble grammatical errors. So anyways, thanks for reading. I totally recommend you to read Manaxsavior's GEB works, I'm a huge fan of her work. I got inspired to write this because of her to be honest. Anyways! If you liked it please add to your favorites and leave a review! I always love reviews although I rarely get criticized but I also accept criticism if it's to make my work better. See you guys again! By the way, I am warning you now that the next chapter might be quite late in updating.**

**Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New year guys! The year 2012 is almost over and a New Year is beginning, that means a new start! So, hope you guys have fun! By the way, I'm almost celebrating my official 1 year in Fanfiction~! Thanks for all the support, please leave review even though you are a guest! ^_^**

_**If you leave a review, you can have a virtual potato and a cookie from yours truly. But, I won't force you guys but please, make this world a better place, for you, for me and the entire fanfiction race… There are people dying, if you care enough for the living, make a better world for you and for me so leave a review if you appreciate it, and also for all the fanfiction authors out there too. Q A Q Arigato~!**_


	3. Raven's fight

**A.N. Hey guys! I would like to thank all that reviewed and favorited! Thanks so much for the support!**

**Unfortunately.. This isn't the last chapter because I realized I can't fit all the ending in 1 chapter.. I mean 10,000 words but the real fight hasn't even begun! **

**So I'd like to tell this in advance to all of you guys! Thanks for reading this! By the way, I use the term "chopper" instead of "helicopter" in case of confusion. **

**By the way, in the battle, their hits are 1-hit-KO like in the anime and for all of you that didn't know there was a movie, please go to and type "God Eater Burst episode 1". **

**It occurred 5 years ago before the game took place and it was also Soma's first mission so to all of you that are thinking, "Why do they die so fast in this fanfic and in the movie but in the game they don't?!" **

**Well, I also don't know the answer… but in the anime they dies quickly so that explains why in this fanfic, the aragami dies easily…**

* * *

(Please read the note above for details)

Perhaps I didn't tell Soma but the mission I was referring to before I left was a death mission. Well, for the others anyway. But I just got so used to fighting aragamis that I don't find it scary in any way because the aragami already took my loved ones and what can I do about it?

The funny thing is, I can handle pain because my body got used to it but I can't handle mental and emotional stress. I either break down to tears or freeze up. I remember the first mission I had with Soma in where the Ogretail killed Eric. He was not paying attention anyway and I didn't even bat an eyelash when he died but the only time I cried was Shio leaving. I felt so helpless because I can't stop her. That was also one of the times where I felt I was about to die because everybody was losing hope on living, including me.

I rush off to Hibari and she looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "Good Afternoon, Jackson." She greeted and I nodded nervously, why is she looking at me like that? "I guess somebody didn't bother to fix up their appearance!" Sakuya calls out and I fumble in tidying my hair and clothes, Oh, now I know. I laugh nervously and Hibari chuckles quietly.

"Moving on. You have been called, all leaders of each unit will gather here shortly. Please head to the Executive Section afterwards." She says and I was confused. _All_ the leaders? I wasn't even familiar will all of them, the best one I know is Tatsumi of the Defense Squad and we get to gather in here. "Cool." I remark and I felt someone tap my shoulder, I look back to see Tatsumi.

"Oh, you again." I was half kidding actually. "Woah, easy tiger. Aren't you glad to see me at the least?" he countered and we both laugh. "Oh yeah, you're still not familiar with all of them right? I'll introduce you since you saved my life when Lindow tried to kill me." He says happily, it's supposed to be not funny but a laugh escapes my mouth.

He shows me a boy who has medium build and has teal hair and slanted gray eyes, he has tan skin and he was wearing a black collared shirt with a white overcoat on top and white pants with black combat boots. "This is Riku. Leader of the 7th unit, the one who defeated the Ourobors when you were a rookie, remember? He wields a laser gun, a Stella Swarm actually.. like yours, I'm guessing a Rank 9 weapon?" he asks and Riku nods.

"Nice to meet you, Raven. You're pretty famous so I know you." He says with a rusty voice and I clasp my hand to his and we shake hands. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Hey Tatsumi!" a cheerful boy called out, he was really tall actually but what made him awkward was that he had a baby face which didn't make him look like a leader but he was cute. "Oh, is this Raven? Oh this is fate! Nice to meet'cha! Ren Aiba at your service!" he greets and shakes my hand vigorously. "Actually to be honest, I like you even though I never saw you." He says and kisses me on the cheek. I feel my cheeks turn hot and I cover the place he kissed with my hand.

"Well, this is Ren. The _flirt_ of Unit 4, be careful around him." Tatsumi warns and Ren laughs. Soon, more and more units flood up and Ren introduces me to them eagerly. I knew all of their names but there was someone missing or so they said. "Oh yeah, come to think of it you're an Assault Lieutenant right?" a leader of the 6th unit, Sakura, asks me happily. "Yeah." I reply and she wraps her arm around mine.

"To be honest, all of us here are Corporals and the only ones get to be a Lieutenants are the ones who did something majestic or something worth honoring." She says and then Ren squeezes between us. "He's here! Rei is here!" Ren shouts happily and people make a path for him, making him pass. But who is "he?"

"Who's that?" I whisper to Sakura. "He's Rei Kagane. He's the other Lieutenant in this branch. You guys are the only ones actually. He's more of the Guard Lieutenant. His teammates rarely die in battle and he's also an excellent medic." Sakura gushes and he looks at me and grins. "Nice to meet you, Raven." He greets and shakes my hand, his hand was bigger than mine.

I was struck, suddenly, on how he was good looking up close, just sayin'. He had pale skin and he had straight raven black hair and almond-shaped coal gray eyes. His eyes drew me in and he showed me a row of perfect teeth when he smiled. He has probably always been that handsome. Only boys who have been handsome from a young age have confidence and arrogance in their smile. "Nice to meet you, Rei." I reply back and he squeezes my hand and chuckles to himself.

"I didn't know you know my name." he replies and I laugh, "Just knew it actually." Not like Soma, who is almost shy when he smiles, like he is surprised you bothered to look at him in the first place. But I like those type of guys.

"Okay, now that we're all here. Shall we head to the Executive Section?" Tatsumi asks and everyone agrees and follows behind him. Tatsumi presses the button on the Section Elevator and presses the ES button, Executive Section for short. We all rush outside after we reach the ES section and I've been noticing this but I can feel Rei's fingers brushing against mine for a while now.

"Rei." I call out to him and he looks back, "Yes?" he replies back with a smile. "Are you flirting with me?" I ask him directly and he laughs. "Man, you're interesting. I don't know exactly. Do I look like I'm doing it?" he asks and I blush furiously. "Sorry."

Suddenly, I look ahead of me and see that some of them stopped and made a path for someone. I look at who is it and see that hooded navy blue jacket. "Hey Soma!" Tatsumi greets and everyone looks at him and Soma stops a bit when he sees me. He looks at me then at Rei and smirks. "Hey Leader." He greets and I blush stupidly. "H-Hey!" I greet back at him and everyone looks at me. He leaves and there was silence.

"Woah. I had to control my breath. Soma was here!" a girl giggled and hugged the girl beside her who was also gushing. "He used to scare me but he seemed dependable. I mean he did help stop the Ark Project from the Director, he's also cute up close you know!" another girl gushed and suddenly there was chaos. "Raven and Alisa must be so lucky because you always get to hang out with him. Oh yeah, I heard the new rookie- was her name Katrina? -tried to make a move on him." Sakura says and I suddenly tripped.

"What? When?!" I ask and grip Sakura's shoulder. "Hey, that hurts!" she tells me and I let go of her immediately. "What happened between them?!" I ask and Sakura looks at me questioningly and chuckles, "Not really. I said _tried_ to make a move but I heard that Soma said he was going out with someone.. Did you know?" she asks.

"No. Not a single idea." I lied instantly.

"Hey girls, quit going "Ah~! Soma~!" it's pissing us dudes off." Ren remarks and I could see that he wasn't lying. We all laugh and suddenly Riku clears his throat making us all quiet. "Anyways, let's go in. Tsubaki might scold us for being so noisy." He says and we all enter the room.

Tsubaki was there standing beside Paylor and she examined all of us and instead of getting angry she tells us to form a line instead. "As you have know, we have all called you here for a mission. The Outer Ghetto is being destroyed by aragamis. Well, this time, there's been a large number of large aragami lately. But as far as we know, it has been quite difficult, even for the Defense Squad."

We all look at Tatsumi who only nods and there were nervous murmurs among the crowd. "Silence!" Tsubaki shouts and everyone quiets down. "We'll group you into groups; each of you will be compromised of a medic, an assault, a guard and most of all, someone who will lead you. I have grouped you already based on what you'll do. Any questions before I move on?" she asks.

Rena, the 8th unit's leader, raised her hand. "Yes?" "Tsubaki, you said that we'll just take down some aragami. Why not just let our units fight it? I mean, we can defeat a larger number of Aragami if we do it by squad. And why the leaders only and not the squad?" she asks and everyone nods in agreement to her question.

"Can't you see the point?" a voice calls out, all heads turn to Rei who was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "We are doing it by Squad with only the leaders to avoid casualties. There are still rookies out there and we can't avoid a large number of casualties. If we, the leaders, fight the aragami then we have lesser chance of dying since we already have experience and knowledge on how to fight it." He answers and suddenly the room was silent and I shift nervously.

"He's right. We are Corporals and we are also the leaders that our units look up to us. We can handle this mission, and we _will_ come back for them, our squad and also for our loved ones. After all, we were appointed Leaders for a reason right?" I ask them and whoops were heard around me and some of them wrapped their arms around my shoulders and grin widely.

Tsubaki also smiled and Paylor chuckled at the sight of us. "We will destroy those aragamis." I say and Tsubaki shakes her head, "Can't help it then. Okay, I'll be assigning you!" Tsubaki commands and each of us was assigned to a group. I noticed that we were mixed for a certain reason. Like how there's a Defense Squad who's in charge of defending the other squads. There's also the Rescue Squad who will save the survivors and many more squads.

Suddenly, Tsubaki stops on what she's doing and looks at all of us. "Please remember that even though I grouped you all into different squads it doesn't mean that you won't fight. You will still fight the aragami but also focus on your job. Perform your job seriously. You guys are the best veterans in your squad so do what you have to do without failure."

Finally Tsubaki calls out the last group.

"And finally, the Gods Eater Group." She calls out, "This squad is in charge of destroying the aragami. But, these aragami are the strongest ones thus the members here are the best Gods Eaters we have in this branch. Please step up as I call your name."

"Rei Kagene. Riku Yamada. Raven Jackson. Angel Torricelli." Tsubaki announces and we step up, she looks at us and a smile forms on her lips. "Rei Kagene will be the Guard Veteran. Riku Yamada will be the Assault Veteran and of course, Angel Torricelli will be the Medic and as for you Raven Jackson, you will lead them. And I know that all of you agree that each one of your teammates is most capable and suited for their job." Tsubaki announces and my squad nods at me.

"We are in your care." They said in harmony and I nod back.

Tsubaki steps up and looks at us and says in a stern voice, "Okay, now that we have grouped you. I will tell you the rules. Rule 1, avoid casualties at all cost, all of you must return back. Rule 2, save all survivors even if they're not moving, protect them at all costs. Rule 3, retrieve the core as soon as possible. Don't forget to pack items. Bring as many items as you can. Rule 4, back up your team mates, you're a team so act like it. And last but not the least, exterminate all the aragamis!"

"Yes Ma'am!" we all said and she dismisses us. "Raven." A voice calls out and it was Paylor. "I need to talk to you privately."

* * *

"As you have noticed, Soma, Lindow and Sakuya are not here even though they are Corporals. Would you like to ask why?" Paylor asks, a grin forming on his lips. It always bugs me on how he can keep a face like that. "Yes." I answer and Paylor puts his hands under his chin.

"Well, I sent them on a mission that involves retrieving a certain core. And we've detected it was Shio's core or the Singularity. We're not sure if it's really her but the computer detected a Privthi Mata and a Quadriga guarding the place so we decided to check it out if she's really there." Paylor answers and I grit my teeth. "You're not being clear. Is something bad going to happen? Is it related to the mission you gave me?" I was raising my voice now.

"Yes and a yes." He answers. I bit my lower lip and look at Tsubaki in confusion and she sighs. "If the aragami girl is back then why is she here? Think about it Raven. Think about it real hard." She says.

I was puzzled. If Shio's here then that means the moon must be breaking up and… "Oh no. Nova's gonna come back?" I ask and Paylor nods slowly, "Yes. She's been gathering the aragami that's why the Outer Ghetto is being attacked with an unusually large amount of large aragamis. She's using Shio's body for a while since she's still gathering enough cores for her to fully awaken and destroy Earth." Paylor replies and I slam my hand on his desk.

"Let me guess, my mission is to destroy Nova single-handedly because I'm a New-type and my Resonance has something to do with it." I answer and Paylor unexpectedly nods, "Well, something like that." He says and turns to his computer and starts searching for data.

"According to my research, the Resonance can somehow destroy Nova if you make contact. I'm not really sure how to explain this but the Resonance can somehow shut down Nova's core for a long time, the minimum time is a 10 years and the maximum time is 40 years. But, you have to bring Shio with you, she can also help shut down the core for a longer period of time but if we want it to be completely destroyed…" he stops and looks at Tsubaki nervously and back to me.

"A sacrifice is needed." He finishes and clicks a random code of numbers which shows me the data. I look at it but somehow I can understand the data. "This is the data we gathered so far." He says.

"It says that the Resonance can go down deep the memories of New-types but not entirely, it can also go inside deep an aragami's mind if the user's will is strong. And if the Resonance is somehow taken from the user, it can erase a large number of aragami and prevent it from coming back for years. But if the Resonance is taken from the Gods Eater then the veteran will die. But studies also revealed that there was another person who somehow has something as powerful as the Resonance."I read and there was still a second page, my voice trembled from reading but I continue.

"Aisha Schicksal's strong will enabled her to give birth to the first Gods Eater ever, Soma Schicksal but Soma was supposed to die when he was out of his mother's womb because the Aragami cells would've taken over him but according to the data, Aisha had a certain power that enabled her to do something she wished but cost her life, which was to give birth to Soma. If somehow the Resonance and the Aisha's power were to be combined, Nova will be completely destroyed along with all the other future apocalypse projects and it will also exterminate aragami for a span of 100 years." I finish reading and Paylor nods at me.

"We're not forcing you to cooperate with us fully, Raven. I'm just showing our recent data but we've been calculating other processes too. We're still conducting a machine strong enough to break the core of Nova but no technology has been invented yet so we're still trying to create something." He answers but there was a tremble in his voice.

"I've already considered the consequences, Paylor. I first thought I would just fight Nova but I wasn't thinking straight, I'm not strong enough. But at least now I know what to do. All I have to do is give it my best shot on defeating Nova and sacrifice myself as a last resort." I say and Paylor looks at me hard, as if questioning my answer. I stand up straight this time and try to hide the trembling of my voice, it actually worked.

"I would rather prefer dying with honor and save this _messed up_ world and protect everyone than sit here and wait for Nova to destroy it so I still won't change my mind. I'm going." I say and look Tsubaki who nods at me in agreement and looks at Paylor and they nod. "Okay, I am appointing you on this mission. I will give you 4 days of rest after you come back from your first mission, Understand?" she asks and I nod.

"But seriously, Raven. Aren't you scared at all?" she asks and approaches me and touches my left cheek with her hand. She looks at me with her murky blue eyes and I can somehow feel that she's trying to comfort me. My state of confusion.

Somehow, I find a smile and place the palm of my hand over hers and squeeze it, "Thank you Tsubaki but I'm alright."

And it was a lie.

* * *

I go to my room and enter my password on the Terminal. I search for the aragami located on my upcoming mission. The computer shows me a lot of red dots that are swarming around. "Located 5 Dyaus Pitas, 6 Privthi Matas, 3 Hannibals, 8 Polar Kongous and 24 fallen zygotes and 56 fallen ogretail and still counting." It said and I felt my fingers trembling.

"This is horrible…" I say in a hushed voice and blink my tears back. "Be strong Jackson. You have a team and you better come back to save the whole world." I encourage myself and withdraw all my items on the terminals that can help me in battle and fill it to the maximum. I hurriedly dressed up in blue ranger shorts and put on a loose blue hooded jacket, I slip on the matching shoes that came with the ranger shorts.

I look around me and try to figure out something that I forgot. I look at my left and see my Soma plush doll on the corner of the room, I made this when I still had a crush on him. I hastily picked it up and look at it and press its head on my lips. "Watch over me." I whisper to it and place it back on my bed.

I go to the door but and twist the knob, giving the door a little creak. But before heading out, I look back at my room and smell the wooden scent of the walls. I smile and tears well up to my eyes, "I'll be back." I say to it and close the door to my room.

* * *

"Hey Raven!" a voice calls out, "Oh Tatsumi." I say and he hi-fives me and I return it. "What are you going to bring? I bet your best weapons." He says and grins. "Of course, I'll beat those aragamis to a pulp." I grin and we laugh.

"Okay everybody heads up! Let's go to Licca and get our God Arcs ready. Buy all items needed for this mission. Bring the maximum amount, you're gonna need it. The chopper's waiting for us outside so let's not waste time so we can come back here early!" Rei shouts and everybody shouts in agreement, I find myself shouting too. All of them followed Rei immediately and I was about to.

"Raven." A voice calls out, I look back and see Alisa with tears in her eyes. "Alisa, don't give me that face." I say to her and she shakes her head vigorously. "I can't help it. You better come back or else I'll never forgive you." She shouts with anger in her voice and I approach her and hug her. "I will come back so in the meantime. Please wait for me. I promise you." I say and wipe the tears in her eyes with my thumb.

"She's right Alisa. Trust our Leader, she will come back for us." A voice says and Kota appears out of nowhere and puts his arm around Alisa who cries on his chest. "Come back for us, Raven. We'll be waiting for you." Kota says and Alisa wipes the tears in her eyes but tears still keep streaming down. "I'll wait for you." She sobs and rushes to me and hugs me, Kota also hugs me.

"I'm so glad to have you as my squad." I say and blink back the tears in my eyes and choke back a sob. "Jeez, let me go now. I have to get going." I say and they release me. I run to the others but look back at them and give them a smile.

By the time I reach them, I was already panting. "What happened to you? Anyways, get your God Arc ready." Sakura says and I look around the room. I grab my blade, The Evil One X and my shield, The Rejector X. "Hey, cool blade. Exactly like Soma's only though his is white. I see that you're a Buster Blader." Rei praises and I smile back at him.

"Thanks. Don't forget my gun, The Stella Swarm X!" I say and he laughs, I glance at his blade that he holds over his shoulder like what Soma does. He must've noticed it so he lets it down. "Oh cool, a Serpent Warblade X! Oh man, that's so cool. And you're also a tower shield wielder. So we're both Buster bladers." I remark and we both laugh.

"Watch over my back, Jackson. Blaze and Freeze need each other." He says and pulls me out to the chopper. I get on it and everyone tells jokes to break off the awkward silence that bothers us. I know now that they've searched for our upcoming opponents so they're trying to ease the feeling of fear by telling jokes.

"You okay?" I felt someone tap my shoulder and I look back to see a girl with short silver white hair that reaches her chin and she had big azure blue eyes with an eye patch over it. "Oh. Yes, thanks for asking, Angel." I answer. Now I see why they call her Angel, because of her hair that reminds you of an angel's wings. If I remember correctly, she's the medic of our squad so she must be an excellent shooter since she's our medic.

"So, you must be a very skilled medic since you belong in our squad." I try to start a conversation with her and I could see her cheeks go pink with my compliment. "I g-guess you could say that, my team doesn't die that much in battle. B-but I'm not saying it's because of me! I mean.. They are skilled too..." she replies shyly and fidgets, twirling her fingers.

"But your team is has achieved far more than my team. You have Sakuya on your team. I'm only second to her so you guys have an excellent and a beautiful shooter and a caring friend with you at your squad. You also have Soma whose squad he leads now has the least casualty rate in any other squads and he's really strong too. And of course, Kota and Alisa are just the best companions you could ask for to join you who back you up in times of need. And of course, you. A very dependable leader who cares for her squad more than anything when in a mission. You don't hesitate to protect them and you're selfless too." She replies and looks at me and squeezes me hand.

"Please believe in yourself. I'll do everything I can to save all of you. And I'm so happy I got the chance to talk to you like this." She says softly and I laugh. "Thank you." I reply. "Prepare yourself. We'll jump down the chopper as we always do in every mission." Rei commands and we hoist ourselves up, I tightly grip my God Arc and look at Rei's back.

"Go!" he shouts and we all jump with Rei going first, I look at my left and notice that the others are also jumping down. I'm guessing they must've heard Rei at their earpiece. I land down on my feet and look up. At first, they were numb but I got accustomed to the pain already.

The aragamis all look at us and they roar after seeing us. They charge immediately with the small aragami in the front. We all shift into position, all the squads at the battle plan formation that Tsubaki created for us. Rei swings his God Arc to his side and presses a button on his earpiece. "Now, let's get ready to kill some aragamis, shall we?" his voice asks on the earpiece and everyone says Yes.

"Rei! To my left, I'll need a defender by my side as possible! Riku, back me up from the rear along with Angel! Don't go far ahead! We'll be attacking the front line since that's our job while we have the Front Squad to back us up. Let's go!" I command my group and we charge forward.

The Gunner Squad fires almost immediately at the small aragami. "Sakura. I'm gonna need you to kill the aragami surrounding us. Or at least distract them from us. We have to get to the large aragamis first." I say to my earpiece and a bullet hits the Zygote right in front of me. "Already on it even if you don't tell me." She says on the earpiece and chuckles.

I switch to gun mode and fire lasers at the Sariel who were attempting to attack Ren who was on my top left. "Thanks." He calls out and I look ahead of me. A Vajra attacks with his spark balls and I roll to my side, dodging it. I slash 3 fallen Ogretails in front of me, killing them almost immediately. I hear a scream and see that one of us was charged by a Kongou, it was a girl. Her arm was bruised but it wasn't bleeding. She struggled to stand up and the Defender guards her, fending off the aragami.

I saw a Medic shoot her a recovery bullet and the bruise fades almost immediately, it always amazes me on how technology evolves these days. "Okay guys, we're doing well. Medics, heal the others as soon as possible. Defenders, do what you have to do and Assault, fight with all you got." I command on the earpiece to everyone.

I charge head on the Vajra and shoot a laser at its eye. Blood spurts out from the bullet I shot and I transform to blade form. I jump upwards and Rei follows behind me. "Take this!" I shout and slash the Vajra's head, cutting it in half. Blood surrounds my face and I wipe it with my sleeve.

"Eat this!" I hear Rei say and look to my right enough to notice that he pierced the Privthi Mata right in the middle of its face. Blood runs down the deep cut Rei caused and Rei pulls out his weapon and devours, he was coated in a white light and he finishes the Privthi Mata by ripping its throat out.

"Riku. How many casualties so far?" I ask Riku, "I'm not so sure. Others fainted but they managed to link-aid them successfully. The Medics and the Defense Squad are having a hard time dealing with the Kongous and the small aragamis. The Sariels are also making things difficult for the gunner squad." He explains and I bite my lower lip. This was harder than we expected.

"Look out!" Riku shouts and I look in front of me and see a Dyaus Pita about to pounce on me. "Out of the way!" a voice shouts and someone hits the Dyaus Pita on the face, stopping it from killing me. I look at who did it and see Ikuto from the Front Squad. "Don't get killed here, Jackson." He says and I nod slowly. "Let's get some serious business here."

I focus on what I'm doing and after a long time. I look around me and see dead aragamis everywhere.

I wasn't so lucky, I have a cut running on my forehead up to my left temple and it was bleeding also and I was lacking of items. I was covered in aragami blood and my legs were full of cuts from tumbling to the ground. There was a thin cut on my left cheek that I got when a Zygote run past me. My arms were also shaking from exhaustion and my hands were bleeding because I always got pushed on the ground with my hand pushing me back up whenever I got hit by a large Vajra..

"Riku. Are you feeling alright?" I ask Riku who was behind me. His hands were full of cuts from too much shooting and his forehead was bleeding. He got it when Angel got tossed to him by a Privthi Mata and he shielded her fall. His face also had a few thin cuts like mine on his face. I look at Angel worriedly and noticed that her knees were full of cuts and her arms too. There was blood streaming at her left arm because she got slashed by a Vajra.

Rei patted my shoulder and I look at Rei. He suffered horribly, he was stabbed by a Chi-you on his right side and it was bleeding but Angel treated it immediately. He also had a cut running on his right temple and he smiled at me assumingly. "It's okay, the battle's over now." He assured me and grips my shoulder.

He also had a lot of cuts on his face and his hands-like mine-are also bleeding because he guarded us with all his might and he didn't hold back even though he was in pain. But I'm amazed he still managed to look good.

We avoided casualties but some of us are injured severely, the medics are the busiest ones right now. I look at Rei and search my bag for some items that can help him. "Rei. Let me take a look at your wound." I say worriedly and he clutches his side and shows it to me. It was covered in gauze but the bleeding was soaking it so it needs more layering. I bring out the gauze and hand him a pill, "Here, eat this. It will make the pain numb to touch." I say and he shrugs his shoulders and swallows it.

He calms down almost immediately and I rip off the gauze, it looked horrible. The skin had a hole through it as if a bullet hit him. Blood was streaming like crazy and his flesh was ripping off. "Horrible huh?" he asks me and I let him lay down on the huge rock beside us. "I've seen worst." I respond to him without looking up and grab my water bottle.

I open the lid and pour it down his wound. He winces in pain as the water hits his wound and washes the blood along with it. I take out a cotton ball and with some tweezers, gently pat around the wound. "I'm going to put the gauze now." I say and wrap the gauze around his side. His chest was going up and down every time he breathed. "Hey, sorry to make you do this." He says and I tie up the gauze, "No sweat." I say and help him stand up.

I go around the others, helping their injuries and helping the medics tend for the wounded. If Sakuya was here then maybe she'd do a better job than me. I approach a young boy, I think he's 14? And I see that Angel's also there, tending his wounds. "What happened to him?" I ask Angel and Angel looks back at me and gives me a small smile. "He broke his arm, it'll heal but there's also his wound at the side of his head. I'm treating his arm first but the pain on his head hurts him more I guess." She replies and I approach the boy.

"Wow, a leader at such a young age!" I praise him and he smiles weakly at me. "Speak for yourself, you're the leader of the best squad." He replies back and smirks weakly. "You're in no condition to act proud so let me look at your head." I say and tilt his head to the side. He slaps my hand away and struggles to glare at me.

"That freakin' hurts!" he shouts and I tilt his head roughly and I wrap my fingers around his chin. "I know it does, do you want me to leave it alone then and let you suffer?"I ask him and he quiets down.

I take a look at his wound and notice a deep cut on his left temple reaching down to his cheek. I look at it worriedly and grab some of the pills Paylor gave me that were said to heal me faster compared to the Recovery Pill. "Here, The Director gave me this. It'll help cure your wound I guess. And I'll patch it up with a gauze pad afterwards." I assure him and I smile to him. "Thank you." He whispers softly. He scratches his cheek with his finger, embarrassed of acting like a kid.

He swallows the pill and relief floods his face, calming him down. "Are you okay, Taichi?" Angel asks worriedly and he nods. "Taichi… Oh, from the Retaliation Squad. Wonderful job." I say and he looks at me. "Shut up." He kids and I smile at him and laugh. I tend his wound and after a while, he looks better. "Thank you." He thanks me and kisses me on the cheek, greatly startling me. I hold my palm to the spot where he kissed and he puts his tongue out. "Surprise." He says and I hurriedly stand up and help the other medics.

"Calling all Gods Eaters. Mission successful but the aragami are attacking the City of Mercy and are attacking the Corporals: Soma, Sakuya and Lindow who were completing their own special mission. We are calling all the capable God Eaters to back them up. I repeat, calling all capable Gods Eater to back them up." Hibari calls out and suddenly alarm was spreading among us. "Calm down guys." The medics tried but nobody was listening to them.

"A chopper is headed on your way, all the Gods Eaters who are unable to fight will head back to the Den but those who can still fight, ride the other chopper and help the others. Medics, if you can still fight then join the other chopper. Leave no man behind!" Tsubaki's strict voice calls out on the phone and a chopper appears right above us. I'm injured but I can still fight, I'll protect my team. I will!

"We won't leave you behind." a voice calls out and I see that a few Gods Eaters gathered around me that will go help my team mates. I see Sakura who nods at me, Angel too. I also see a lot of familiar faces and the chopper releases a ladder. "Well, we didn't expect this but let's go to our next mission!" I call out and everyone shouts in agreement.

* * *

(Meanwhile at the moon…)

_A strange voiced moaned in anger and a Vajra-type aragami approached a human-like aragami. "Nova, are you alright?" The Dyaus Pita asked, it looked scared. Knowing Nova is much stronger than it and can kill him in one move but she was using another aragami's body, probably the human aragami who was the vessel of the Singularity. _

"_I am but look at this! I sent thousands of the strongest aragamis and they get killed by a bunch of 'humans.'" she said hissed angrily as the other aragami cowered in fear. "Milady, what do you want us to do?" the Dyaus Pita asked and Nova looked at him and smirked. _

"_I want you to destroy her, destroy that New-type! That Resonance of her can destroy me and all of us!" she snarled and threw her sword at the Sariel, killing it and the other aragamis backed away in fear from her._

_She turned around and touched the puddle of water beneath her feet and suddenly, the water steamed and at that moment, series of images, kinda like a flashback, ran past their eyes. "Look at this! Look at what they've accomplished!" Nova screamed and slapped the water, making the images murky._

_A tanned boy with silver white hair carrying a God Arc in gleaming white appeared and Nova suddenly stopped thrashing and tilted her head in confusion. "Interesting, it's the Director's son. And I see that this body has taken a liking to this and what is this?" she asked herself and a girl ran towards him and the boy hugged her._

_Nova looked at the girl and her eyes flashed in horror, "It's the girl! It's her, this is the one you must destroy!" she screamed and pointed to the girl. "This is the extraordinarily powerful New-type, her aura is something powerful. And I see now that the Director's son treasures this girl." She said and suddenly, the Soma image looked straight at them, as if he knows they are being watched. _

_Nova grinned evilly as Soma turned around and wrapped his arm protectively around the girl beside him that had pink-hair, "You're teasing me? Just like a game." Nova says in a hushed voice and taps the water and the images disappear before them. _

"_The Knight closest to the Queen always gets in the way."_

* * *

(**A.N. In this part, it's Soma's POV**)

I run to Sakuya who was fending off the Ogretail behind us. "Go, follow Lindow. I'll be right behind you!" I shout to Sakuya who hurriedly followed Lindow. The Ogretail pounced but I slashed it, killing it. "Let's go! Run!" I say and suddenly a Vajra blocks Lindow's path. It was kind of strange since it was peaceful a while ago then suddenly a whole army of aragami appeared then attacked us. We were on a mission to find Shio but we haven't searched carefully yet.

"What the hell is happening here?!" Lindow shouts and slides between the Vajra's legs but raises his sword to slice the Vajra's stomach. Sakuya follows, sliding and shooting the Vajra from beneath. I just ran past it since it'll die anyway. "Okay. Let's hide there!" Lindow points to the church and we follow behind him, running.

"Didn't they search the place before we got here for some aragami?" Sakuya asks while running. I follow behind them, guarding them from the rear with Lindow leading us.

"They did. But they just appeared out of nowhere this time. Whatever happened we'll find out after we get out of here alive." His voice stopped before saying "alive" and we slide to the right to cover more ground. By the time we reached the church, I hide behind the walls and we catch our breath.

"Damn. There's so many! How many are there? Can you sniff them up, Soma? I mean, with using Aragami Soma or something?" Lindow asks but there was a hint of seriousness in his voice. "I'd love to disappoint you but I'll say it, Aragami Soma can't sniff those monsters. I'm not a dog, bastard..." I reply while looking out the wall. Lindow sits down but he was still clenching his God Arc, "Well, it was worth a try." He says and I peer again.

It was crazy, there was a lot of aragami outside. I can see a Quadriga, 2 Dyaus Pitas and 3 Privthi Matas, and a herd of Vajra. We killed 2 Privthi Matas and 4 Vajra's but seriously.. This is way beyond crazy. I would love to fight outside but there's too many of them. Sakuya and Lindow are thinking the same as me too, there's too many.

"Hey Hibari, is the back-up heading here?" Lindow asks through the earpiece. "Yes. They're heading on your way." Hibari replies and I could see a Vajra type heading our way. "Hey Lindow, stand up. A Privthi Mata's heading our way. If I were you, prepare to fight a lot of aragamis." I say and prepare myself. I shift on my right feet and grip my God Arc tightly.

I prepare for a Charge crush, it was getting nearer. 10 feet… 6 feet…. 3 feet… "Eat this!" I shout. I jump and bring down my blade on its head, killing it. The aragamis quickly hear me and we run away. I run and Sakuya looks behind me.

"Look out!" she shrieks and shoots at the Dyaus Pita behind me. I look over my shoulder to see what was going on but Lindow grabs me by the wrist, tugging me with him. "What's your problem?!" I ask but I don't let him release me. "Now is not a good time to fight Soma, we have to find Shio first." Lindow says and we run. I grab Sakuya by her elbow and also pull her to keep up with me because she was getting tired and because she was having difficulty running.

We run, Lindow first, me second, and Sakuya last. I look over my shoulder again and see two Vajras running behind us. Others are following behind them. My head feels muddled, probably from exhaustion, but the adrenaline keeps me running.

"Hang on!" Lindow shouts at us and we nod.

Adrenaline courses through my veins, making me run faster. "_Soma…"_ a voice calls out, it was sort of like a whisper. I hesitantly stop for a split second but Lindow continues to tug me. "Did you hear that?" I ask Lindow and Sakuya. "Hear what? The aragami behind us?" Sakuya asks and shoots a bullet at the Vajra.

When I look back I see the whole herd of Vajra, "Oh shit. A whole family is right behind us." I say and Lindow stops and positions himself. "Really then? We have no choice but to fight them." Lindow says and we charge through the herd.

I slide between their feet, and slash its legs although it just caused an injury. I slide my feet to the left, positioning myself for a charge crush. I hit the Dyaus Pita in the head and it tries to stand up but I open my God Arc, revealing my "Devour". It opens its mouth and bites the face of the Dyaus Pita, killing it and giving me a burst.

"Watch out!" Sakuya shouts but I react too slowly. A Vajra pounces at me and pins me down; its front paws on my shoulders. It opens its mouth and I could smell its foul stench, I wrinkled my nose in disgust. The burst didn't manage to complete its course and the Vajra stopped me from getting it.

"Get away from me, you monster!" I shout and bring my blade to its right eye, it shouts in pain and rampages blindly. I grip my God Arc and continue battling. I look at my right and see a fallen Chi-you charging to Sakuya who was busily fending off a herd of Sariels.

I run to her and hurriedly slash my blade at the Chi-you; I didn't even know where I was hitting. The Chi-you growls in pain and swipes its sharp wings on my face. I feel blood running down my cheek and position myself in guarding Sakuya.

"Soma!" she shouts worriedly behind me. "Just shut up and do your job. This injury will heal by itself in a while." I say to her without looking back and she nods. "Go back-up Lindow." I say and she heads to Lindow who was fighting 2 Privthi Matas one handedly.

What I said was true anyway, all my wounds heal faster than normal because I'm half-aragami and it's one of the few things which came as a blessing rather than a curse. "Take this!" I say. I leap and bring my blade down the Sariel, with my free hand, I grip the skirt of the Sariel, determined not to let go.

It panicks and flies blindly. A Chi-you then notices me and fires at me; I hoist myself up higher with my free arm and with my weight, the Sariel swerves to the left, dodging the blast. "Are you nuts?!" Lindow exclaims when he sees me. I look down and see that there were a lot of aragamis, I squint my eyes to see what was in the sky. It was a Fenrir Chopper.

"Hang on, back-up is coming, just wait for a few moments!" I call down to them. Lindow slides to the back but a Vajra caught him off-guard and Lindow flies upward to the air.

"Lindow!" Sakuya shrieks and protects Lindow's body. The Sariel I was riding blindly hits a wall but I didn't let go. It shakes me off wildly and my grip loosens, letting me fall to the ground. I look down to see a Kongou below me and without warning, it punches me in the stomach. My body hits the ground and I clutch my stomach. Blood drips down the corner of my mouth and I squint my eye in pain. I look at my injury and see blood –a lot of blood- seeping through my clothes.

"Soma!" Lindow shouts, who apparently had the strength to stand up now but he was fighting a Chi-you so he can't exactly help me.

"This is nothing." I say, my voice raspy and rough. I grip my stomach and wipe the corner of my mouth with my sleeve. I smirk and grip my God Arc tighter, "I'm not gonna die here. I have someone back at the Den waiting for me and I told her not to worry so I will come back home!" I shout and a Privthi Mata roars and runs to me.

I stay in position and when it's near enough, I swerve to the left and slide under its head, startling it. Then I bring my blade up to my head and plunge my blade into its throat. I struggled to stand up to get away from falling but luckily, Sakuya shot me a Recovery Bullet, healing me. "You alright?" she asks and I look at her, "I would be alright if you focus on the fight." I answer and she shoots at the aragami.

A zygote ambushes me from behind but I didn't notice him. "Crap!" I shout and it releases yellow gas, I grip my head and realized I was stunned and I can't move. I struggled to open my eyes and see a Fallen Kongou charging to me, I try to move my arms but I can't. I prepare myself for the hit and feel pain overwhelm me, it hit my previous injury and blood drips down more from my mouth.

I grit my teeth and hold my hand to my mouth as I cough up blood. "Sakuya!" Lindow shouts and Sakuya heads to me. "Don't worry Soma. Back-up is coming." She assures me and helps me stand up while fending off the aragami. "I'm sorry to be a burden…" I say in a strained voice and cough up blood again. I look at Lindow, who by now has blood running down his forehead and a cut on his arm, and feel a pang of guilt hit me.

"It's alright. But we better rush you to the medics as soon as they arrive and fix up your internal bleeding." She says and I chuckle, "And my external bleeding… All that blood had to go somewhere huh? Now I can taste blood in my mouth and it's disgusting." I say and see a Dyaus Pita about to pounce on us. "Watch out!" I say and I see someone push Sakuya and I to the right, allowing us to dodge the aragami.

I turn my head to the right and see Sakura, a leader, but what was she doing here? "Yo Soma!" she greets happily and I look at her, "I see that we've arrived on time." A voice calls out from behind and I see a man with his other arm around another man's neck. He gave me a pained look and looked at my wound. "I wouldn't say you arrived exactly on time, Riku." I answer back in a strained voice and a girl with white hair rushes to me.

"Are you alright?" she asks me worriedly and takes me off Sakuya. A Medic. She helps me to a wall and tends my wound, I look around me and see that our back-up squad were all the leaders of the Far East Branch but I see that some of them were injured in coming here. I feel confused, what were they doing here?

"We came here as back-up. We just finished a difficult mission for us leaders so not all of us are in our best state but we can still fight. Tsubaki said that some of the aragami we fought came here." She says without looking up.

I then remember this morning when all the leaders were outside the Director's door, including Raven. "Oh, so that explains why there's so many aragami. How many did you fight?" I ask and she looks at me. "Since when were you the type to talk to people, Soma?" she asks me but I see no harmful intention, it was really a question. "I don't know. Anyways, answer my question!" I snarl and she flinches.

"Your leader said that it was approximately a 1000 aragamis. About 5% of them came here." She answers and leans it to wipe my mouth with a tissue. Wait. Raven is here? Is she alright? If she's here, then where is she?

"I don't need it!" I snarl at her and struggled to stand up as pain spreads throughout my body. "Take it easy, you're in no condition to stand up." She assures me and I know she was just trying to help. "Sorry… But I have to find her." I say and wince in pain. She taps my shoulder in a way that makes me know that she's genuinely worried about my injury. "Be safe." She says and I nod, it hurts to move but I carry my God Arc with me.

I look around me and see that there were more dead bodies of aragami and it made me want to devour it and get their cores but Raven is my first priority. I hear a scream and see Sakura cornered and her God Arc was being held in place by a Chi-you. A Dyaus Pita approaches her slowly, knowing that she can't do anything. But before it can do anything, I see a faint streak of light pink hair that reminded you of cherry blossoms.

"Raven…" I mumble and feel happiness rush over my body. She was injured, blood was splattered everywhere in her clothes and her pale skin made the blood in her face more noticeable. There was a gauze pad in her temple and I could see that her hands were covered in a bandage tape and there was a fierce look in her eyes, as if she was determined to protect the ones important to her. Usually, her eyes would've remind me of the forest, something that doesn't exist anymore in this messed up world but right now, they were in a deep shade of green.

I've never seen her look so beautiful.

She spreads her arms out in a cross formation, a gesture she was not going to let the aragami attack Sakura. The Dyaus Pita growls in a low voice, warning her to stay away but she stays in place. She holds out her blade right in front on the Dyaus Pita and I was puzzled. Why aren't they fighting each other? I see her lips move, I can hear it easily thanks to my acute hearing. It went something like this:

"_Stay away from me, I don't want to hurt you especially not because you have her on your back."_ She says and I look at the back of the Dyaus Pita and see Shio. Her eyes were glowing… and red, as if she was possessed. Then, Shio spoke, apparently, there were two voices, it was like as if Nova and Shio were talking together.

"_Oh? But why hold back? It's only a body of an aragami like all of these." _The voice says, gesturing to the dead bodies of aragami everywhere.

I feel anger coursing through my body, "Don't give me that talk. Shio's different than all of you." I say and Raven looks at me. "Soma…" she whispers and looks at my wound. She gives me a small smile, a smile that said: "I'm glad you're alright." She knows that I define alright as still breathing.

"Nice injury!" she calls out and points to the wound in her temple, "You too." I press back and can't help but smile.

"Oh, nice to see you here, Soma." The voice greets and the Dyaus Pita looks at me and his master- Nova in Shio's body- looks at me and grins in an evil way. Somehow, she doesn't even look like Shio even though she was using her. "I'm glad to meet you after your father created me. But you tried to destroyed me so no exceptions." she hissed and I keep my face unfazed even though my wound was killing me.

She looks at me and back to Raven. She tries to attack Raven and I move out of impulse but I don't charge since I know she was gonna fake it. She then lets the Dyaus Pita bare his fangs at me and Raven quickly shifts her position into attack. She laughs and looks at the both of us.

"I see that you have the tendency to protect each other. Isn't that sweet?" she asks and she glares at me, her eyes turning cold. I glare back at her and do not look down because it is an act of submission; instead I look back at her, a sign of aggression. "Well, I would say you guys are star-crossed lovers… a tragic end to a love relationship… and what causes it again?" she asks herself and pauses to think.

Raven positions herself on attack, ready to rush in whatever danger happens. I grip my God Arc and prepare my blade, she looks at us. I felt a bitter taste in my mouth, I don't like the way she uses Shio's body to threaten us. "If I remember correctly, it's a line from Romeo and Juliet, which Shakespeare used to describe two people whose love seemed to be cursed by fate from the beginning of time, or written into the stars." She says and cackles wickedly.

"No matter. I'll kill you first!" she says and the Dyaus Pita turns its back around and leaps, ready to pounce. I put my shield up, ready to defend and out of the corner of my eye, I see Raven rushing to me. "Stay away!" I shout to her but she doesn't listen, instead she jumps at the Dyaus Pita's back and strangles Nova. Nova lets out a choke and Raven holds her blade near her throat.

"Don't you dare hurt him." She threatens in a hushed but deadly voice.

"You brat-! Let go of me….!" Nova chokes out but Raven does not let go. "You didn't answer my offer so why would I not hurt him?!" Nova says in the fit of choking. I see tears well up Raven's eyes and see her hands tremble. "I'll go with you... Just… Don't hurt anybody anymore." She whispers in a hushed voice and Nova struggles to talk, "Are you sure?" Nova asks her, a wicked smile spreading in her face. Raven nods and lets her go.

"Well, let's go then." Nova says but Raven looks around her. "Can I at least say Goodbye?" she asks Nova who rolls her eyes. "Make it quick." She snapped and Raven leaps out of the aragami and wraps her hands on my mine. "What is she talking about?" I ask Raven but she doesn't answer, "It's nothing. Soma, please listen to me." She says as she chokes back a sob but her voice was still trembling.

She squeezes my hand and looks at me, "At times like this, it makes me want to wish that I could've told you about what I felt Soma. What I've felt about you. I can't believe how much time I wasted hiding it from you." She says and puts her hand on my cheek, "I know that this is out of the blue but I don't have much time. I'm sorry for hurting you, for telling you to stay away from me and not understanding your feelings-"

I hug her tight which greatly startled her and she wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. I place my hands over her cheeks which were wet with tears, "Forget the past Raven. We've got a future to make it up!" I say to her and she gives me a smile which sends my heart racing. She kisses me on the lips which send some surprised shouts from the crowd, I can't believe I forgot about them.

I return the kiss and she hugs me tight one last time before heading off to Lindow and Sakuya who embrace her tightly. Sakuya keeps crying and I could her Raven say,

"_Tell Kota and Alisa I'm sorry about breaking my promise. I'm sorry Sakuya but I have to go. And you Lindow, take care of Sakuya when I'm gone okay?" ._

I choke back a sob and suppress my tears, why is she talking as if she's never coming back?!

I clench tighter on my God Arc as I watch all of them give their goodbyes and hug Raven. She goes to me again and hugs me one last time and lets go but I grab her wrist and hug her from behind, scared to show her my face.

"Promise me you'll come back to me.. I don't know what I will do without you… Raven..." I say and feel tears escaping my eyes but I blink them away. "I will. But for now.." she says and pushes me away and wipes my tears with her thumb.

"This is Goodbye." She whispers to my ear and Nova grabs her in the elbow, pulling her away from me.

"What is this? An aragami can actually cry?" she asks, seeing the tears in my eyes. "Shut up! Where are you taking her?!" I ask and I notice that they were glowing and slowly disappearing.

"I am no position to say that but let's just say she'll die." She says and cackles and leaves a white burst of light before vanishing. We just stood there, shocked. Suddenly, after they disappear a black feather falls down the sky. It's strange because there are no animals anymore, except for chickens and pigs for food.

The feather lands on the palm of my hand and I notice that it was black, and shiny. It was long and pointed, it had a beautiful look to it, and then a flashback occurs to me when Raven and Kota were bickering at the end of the mission while waiting for the helicopter to pick us up.

…

_I was at the leaning against a rock while Raven was showing a book about animals that could soar over the clouds with things called "wings." _

"_So, Raven. Come to think of it, you're a half right? Half-Japanese and the other half being American? Your last name is uncommon.. Jackson huh?" Kota says and Raven scratches the back of her ear._

"_Well yeah, they named me after a black bird. It's beautiful, Dad showed me a picture and I kept it. Wanna see?" she asks eagerly to Kota who nods his head vigorously. I didn't mean to do it but I glanced over the picture. It was just a bird that was colored black and greatly resembled a crow. "It's the largest in the family of crows so that's why it looks similar." She says and continues._

"_My parents named it after me because it was one of the creatures that they wanted to see. But somehow, my name is a bad omen and a good omen so it's not exactly that great…" she says and I realize that we're all listening to her, including Lindow and Sakuya._

"_Why? What does it say?" Lindow asks while whiffing a cigarette._

"_These are birds that observe, as if lurking and waiting for their next victim. So it quite suits me well, especially at missions!" she says happily and they laugh, I can't help but chuckle._

"_Why is it bad?" Kota asks, she sighs and looks away sadly. "It is ultimately associated with death, and consequently considered a bad omen by many, or a forewarning of war. Great, a name which brings tragedy..." she sulks and Kota pats her back._

"_Well, you're not bad. I mean, it says here that Raven also means protector." Kota assures and Raven gives a smile. "Thank you."_

_She looks up at the sky and I see the same eyes, my very eyes and suddenly, I find myself looking at the sky too. "Sometimes, I wish I was a bird, where I can just fly away from here and run away from all these problems in this wrecked world…" she says in a hushed voice while everyone is silent._

"_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that in front of you!" she apologizes and the helicopter arrives and pushes out the ladder. We ride over it and Raven looks one last time at the sky._

"_What's wrong?" I ask her and outstretch my hand to her, helping her to get up._

"_Sometimes, I wonder if we can see a world without aragamis… you know.. a glimpse of peace." She says in a hushed voice and I find myself patting her shoulder. She looks at me and smiles._

_I look at her eyes, the same eyes I possessed. Eyes that wonder where to find light in this pitch black earth._

_..._

I clench the feather in my hand and brush my lips against it, I look up at the sky and see a glimpse of the sun setting down.

"Let's go. The Director's waiting for us." I say, wiping my tears with my sleeve and turn my back around and head back to the Den.

_I swear I'll drag you back here, Raven. I won't let you end up like Shio. I'm not going to make the same mistake again._

…

_**So hey guys! Whaddya think of the new chapter? I really feel like as if I made a lot of grammatical errors… Geh… -_- Anyways, it's a new twist! Ehehehehehehe! The real fight begins in the next chapter! I'm betting I'll get a review! **_**XD *looks at you innocently* you will, right?**


	4. I am a God Eater!

**A.N. Yo! The lazy author has finally returned for the second to the last chapter of "Don't let your guard down!" Everything will be solved in the epic climax(?) of this epic story! Anyways, Gods Eater 2 is coming soon so I have hopes that I can make a pretty good fanfic for the oncoming game. Please support me if I do so. **

**Oh, and please download/buy/order the game so we can continue to support this game too.**

**Anyways, Let's begin! Oh yeah, MANY MANY THANKS TO ALL THAT REVIEWED, FOLLOWED AND FAVED. **

**Thank you so much by the way, Snowy12345679~!**

**By the way, I'm all giddy right now ever since I found out that Soma will be on God Eater 2 and he's so hawt there. His face matured and he doesn't wear a hood anymore and the thing that surprised me the most: Soma is wearing WHITE.**

**I have a gut feeling Soma is a bit OCC on this part o.o… And the next chapter will be updated this week without fail… or maybe the next week.**

* * *

The Den was unusually noisy after what happened before with the rescue mission on the City of Mercy and the case involving the First Unit Leader, Raven. The news spread like fire on the Den especially after all the leaders returned looking severely surprised and frustrated.

After Alisa heard the news, she burst out crying and slumped to the ground with Kota trying to calm her down to no avail. Lindow looked regretful and started blaming himself for not being able to be there for her and for being not strong enough to protect her. Sakuya also cried quietly in her room every night.

But, everyone's attention was focused on the lone wolf of the den. Soma returned from the City of Mercy looking composed and reserved. He shut himself away from everybody even to the First Unit. He didn't want to hear those sugarcoated words that meant nothing to the situation right now.

Surprisingly though, Paylor still continued the missions of eradicating the aragami in the area and whenever everyone asked Tsubaki on what happened she wouldn't answer and shift the topic easily.

The Aragami numbers significantly decreased just like the missions after Nova was defeated. There weren't any dangerous aragami on the Outer Ghetto anymore. Only some small aragamis which don't require that much effort. Some of the God Eaters were thinking that maybe Raven had something to do with this.

* * *

It was after lunch and everyone was busily hanging out on the Entrance of the Den when suddenly a blood-covered Soma bursts into the Den, surprising everyone with his appearance. His trademark clothes were splashed with Aragami blood and turned his blue jacket into a dark shade of red with hint of navy blue. His yellow shirt was also soaked in blood and his white hair tips were dipped with blood. His shoes were caked in dirt and dried blood and his face had dried aragami—or maybe _his_ dried— blood on it too.

He looked like a monster.

He stormed into the Den with everyone making way for him and staring at him but he didn't mind at all. He just wanted to get out of there quickly and bust into the door of that old man Sakaki. He rashly pressed the Elevator Door open and closed the doors before him, shutting him from that place.

Meanwhile, the people on the Den still can't get over with Soma's appearance and started whispering to each other in groups.

"He looks like a Death God… how scary..."

"Did you see his clothes? They were soaked with Aragami Blood! How intense was he?"

"…. How scary…. It's terrible enough that Raven was taken away…."

Suddenly, everyone stopped whispering when someone slammed his fist into the table. Everyone looked their way on who stopped them from talking. It was Lindow Amamiya.

"Shut up. You guys don't know _anything_ at all on what Soma's been through. He's carrying the biggest burden of us all so stop yapping your mouths with just his appearance."

He looked fearless. His anger was boiling and he looked like he hasn't been getting much sleep and his hair was in a disheveled state. Everyone looked at each other awkwardly and went back on what they were doing. The tension was high in the Den and everyone noticed that gossiping released the tension so they started gossiping much to Lindow's chagrin.

"Hey Lindow," someone greeted him and Lindow looked back to see Kota with a sad face on his face. He also had dark circles under his eyes and his voice wasn't as peppy as it used to be. "Hey Kota, what are those?"

Kota looked on where Lindow was pointing and realized he was pointing on the flashdrive he was holding. "Oh this? This is a flashdrive of the Bugarally series. I recorded them before and I thought Alisa might want to watch them. She's currently reading the comic books I gave her."

Lindow worriedly scratched his head and patted Kota in the back, "I see. Is she alright after what happened?"

Kota looked away for a moment. He was really worried for Alisa but at the same time he was also worrying for Raven's safety, "She's been crying herself to sleep every night. She's scared of sleeping since she's been having nightmares every night. She told me she saw Raven all chained up and being tortured on her dreams," he started.

Lindow saw him gripping the flashdrive tightly and bitterness appeared in his eyes, "I've been wondering maybe that really is Raven since Alisa said both of them are New-types and both have the Resonance so I was wondering if Raven really is alright. Lindow, what do you think?"

Lindow furrowed his brows and started thinking. Giving an answer to Kota was hard since he knew he couldn't make jokes about it anymore since this was a serious situation. Even a light joke was hard for him right now since he was also as worried as Alisa and Kota.

"Who knows? I'm placing all of my hopes on someone. Someone who'll bring her back." Lindow replied firmly and a small smile appeared on Kota's lips.

"I guess you're right. He's a huge jerk and stubborn so I'm sure she'll drag her back here." He chided and laughed for the first time ever since Raven disappeared.

Kota gazed at the door on where they go out whenever they have a mission and remember the last thing he saw was his Leader's straight back and the grin on her face which was so full of confidence and brimming with happiness, "Farewell." was the last word that formed on her mouth and at that time he didn't given much thought to it.

"_I'm so glad to have you as my squad." _

_I guess that was Raven's secret goodbye for the both of us,_ Kota thought before leaving Lindow and closing the Elevator doors that reeked of Aragami blood and also the smell of someone familiar.

"Jeez, at least make sure not to leave footprints behind," Kota said to someone in particular as he gazed into the elevator floor which was filled with bloody footprints of someone pacing back and forth hastily and not noticing that he left a mark of worry on the Elevator.

* * *

"So how's the data going on?" Paylor asked Tsubaki who was checking her clipboard which she carried everywhere. "Well, the data is going pretty well. The engine to rocket on the moon is almost complete according to Licca. I've calculated to prepare the handful of the most skilled veterans to go for a result of high chance of success. Also—!"

The door burst out open again for the 33rd time in 6 days and it was still the same person with his appearance gradually growing more and more demonic and the anger in his eyes growing more intense.

"Ah Soma, you again!" Paylor happily greeted much to Soma's dismay. Soma barged in to Sakaki's room the moment he arrived back on the recent mission on where Raven was abducted and requested for some missions at once.

Sakaki had to reluctantly agree since Soma threatened to beat him up with no hesitation if he didn't agree and if he still won't agree, Soma said that he'll break the rules and go off on his own.

Usually, Soma _would_ go off on his own and break the rules since he did it frequently back then when Raven was still a rookie but Soma knew that Sakaki had the list of where you can find _stronger _aragami since he was the one who assigns the missions and Hibari is the one who informs it.

Looking for strong aragami without Paylor assigning you missions is like hopefully looking for some wild flowers in the Forgotten Carrier. Paylor knew where they are located and if he assigned Soma the strong aragamis, Soma knew he can get stronger that way and gather the cores so he can grow stronger. And by stronger it means upgrading his God Arc weapon and his shield.

But it was hard locating for an Arda Nova since it only appeared once and they were fighting his S.O.B father of his and it required Arda Nova materials for his blade—The Evil One— to be upgraded to its strongest form—The Evil One X— so he can defeat Nova more easily. Surprisingly, Raven has the same blade and he observed it had terrifying powers.

So, Soma had to gather a lot of cores from different aragamis ranging from Quadrigas, Privthi Matas, Dyaus Pitas, Sariels, Susano'os Ouroboros and a goddamn Aether in exchange for Arda Nova materials. An Aether wasn't as dangerous as a Hannibal—heck even a Hannibal is easier — but an Aether was an annoying version of a Sariel and it poisoned him many times much to his dismay.

To hurt the Aether he goddamn had to jump a lot of times just to slash it and when it fell on the ground, he didn't show any mercy. It also uses a vast wall of light so close combat was difficult. He also observed that it fired long-distance shots so he had to dodge it a lot of times but he fought a lot of stronger aragami so he got the hang of it. Licca told him that everything is going well and it'll just be a little bit of time before he can get The Evil One X.

"Oh, you again. Came here for more death missions perhaps?" Tsubaki asked in a stern voice and her lips slightly twitched at Soma's appearance.

He was covered in aragami blood from head to toe alright. His clothes smelled singed, like how one would smell like after they returned from the Infernal Subway. The tips of his hair were dipped in blood and he looked worn-out and exhausted but Tsubaki knew he was a stubborn guy so he still won't listen even if she scolded him.

Secretly, Tsubaki was getting worried for Soma. Soma was requesting for missions non-stop and looked like he hasn't been getting much sleep or rest. Hibari told her that Soma immediately requests for another mission after finishing the previous one and Licca informed her that the remaining cores Soma's gathering are more than enough to create a rank 9 weapon for the others.

"Back off! Just shut up. Give me everything you have there as soon as possible," Soma requested and Paylor sighed in defeat and handed him a piece of paper.

Soma was about to grab the piece of paper as usual but Paylor cleverly snatched it back since they do this every time Soma requests for a mission and doing this 33 times is already enough to know on what Soma is about to do.

"Such a selfish request but you never thanked me once." Paylor says with a sly grin on his face and Soma frowns and glares at him angrily with his best wolf stare.

"Hand it to me, jerk," Soma growls ominously with only Paylor smiling back to him playfully.

"I will but not today, I want you to freshen up. Fix your appearance maybe?" Paylor playfully teases him with a bit of seriousness and Soma grabs his collar and brings his face close to Paylor's.

"I have no time to goddamn rest. Now hand me the paper," Soma snarls angrily. Suddenly Tsubaki steps in and grabs the paper from Paylor's grasp and pours the vase water on them, spilling the water over them, surprising a now drenched Soma and Paylor.

Tsubaki glares at Soma who looked as if he snapped out of it, "Enough of this nonsense! I order you to rest up a bit! Stop being so tense!"

Soma's eyes widened in shock but he regains his composure and bows his head down, calming himself a bit. It wasn't like him to be so civil.

"Sorry. I'm leaving." He apologized sincerely and walks out of the room and decided to go back to and calm himself down.

"What am I doing?" Soma asks himself and sighs as the murky red water drips from his hair.

* * *

**(Soma's POV)**

I walk to the Laboratory to see a familiar face. It was Alisa and she was dressed in a thin robe and was reading a comic book. I think it was called Bugarally or something, not that I care or anything since it looks like crap for me.

She notices my presence but doesn't look at me instead she keeps looking at the book but it's obvious she isn't reading it anymore. "What brings you here, Soma?" I lean my back on the wall and cross my arms over my chest.

"How are you doing?" I ask her.

She smiles a bit and closes her eyes, "Thanks. I'm okay now, I'll be fine. I mean, it looks like you're completely over it by now."

Over it? Like hell I am. What kind of person wouldn't be frustrated when someone just abandoned her teammates without telling them anything?

I stay silent at her answer and she looks at me with tears in her eyes with a forced smile on her face, "I'll manage. I can't just sit in a corner bawling my eyes out now, can I?"

"I haven't gotten over it at all," I started and Alisa trained her eyes at me curiously, listening to me. She looked like she wasn't surprised at my awful appearance.

"I just took a step forward. But you… stumbled all the way back to the beginning, haven't you?" I told her and her eyes widened in shock. She kept quiet and she lowered her head quietly. Her shoulder started shaking and she clutched her head in pain. I could tell she was crying.

The door suddenly opens and Kota hurriedly rushed to Alisa and wrapped his arms around her worriedly. "Alisa! Are you okay?" he asks frantically and glares at me but before I could explain, Alisa buries her head in Kota's chest.

"Why? Why did she just abandon us like that?! I'm scared, Kota!" Alisa cries out and Kota wraps his arms around her and pats her head reassuringly.

"She'll come back for us, I'm sure she will." Kota assures her but Alisa was trembling hard and she looks like the state she was in before when she first fought an aragami. To be honest, I feel kind of sorry for her but crying won't do anything.

And it's not like her past is as intense as mine.

"I'm leaving." I tell them as I begin opening the door to leave.

"Wait!"

I turn around and see Kota looking at me firmly. I've only seen those look on his eyes once and it was the time when we lost hope on our last stand on Aegis. "You will bring her back for us right?" He waits for my answer and his brows were furrowed.

"Even if I have to drag her back." I reply and turn around. Even without turning back I could tell that Kota was smiling.

"You cocky jerk," he replied back and a smile forms on my lips before closing the door.

* * *

I go to the Veteran's station and my room was on the right side. I stop walking and gaze at the benches that were at the sides of the hallway and remember that Raven was here holding that can of sorry excuse for a juice. She greeted me casually but I ignored her and headed to my room.

I do what I usually do every time I return from my previous mission. I approach the door to Raven's room and lean my forehead on the door. "I'm back, Raven." I called out and try to imagine her inside the door, clumsily fixing up her appearance because of my arrival.

I breathe in deeply and let myself calm down on the door to her room. "Hey, did you know? I managed to gather a lot of rare cores today. I would've given it to you so you can by some clothes but you're not here anymore. Alisa's doing well too." I told the door and turned the knob only to find it locked.

I couldn't stop thinking about her safety. She was out of my reach and I longed to see those emerald orbs locked on mine again. I missed her.

I sighed and slumped down and leaned my back against the door of her room and sat there to rest. I was exhausted, I've been fighting aragamis non-stop without rest and sitting down totally relieved me.

"Raven," I called out and closed my eyes, seeing her face in my memory.

"_Soma!" a voice happily called out to me, I looked behind me and saw our first unit leader heading towards me. She gleefully held out her hand which was clenched into a fist._

"_What's that?" I asked her, she grinned wildly and opened her hand to reveal a green leaf that had 4 heart shaped leaves but it was tiny. "Lucky! I found a four-leafed clover! Before, the people said if you found one it'll bring good luck to you!" she replied and I turned my back around her._

"_Yeah whatever. Luck doesn't exist here anymore." I reply casually and I was stopped in my tracks with Raven holding her arms out, blocking my path. "Well, if you say luck doesn't exist, you won't mind taking the clover, right?"_

_I straighten my back and snatched the leaf from her hands, "Don't get me wrong. I'm just taking this so you'll leave me alone." I said in a low voice and walk back to the Den. Raven fumbles in grabbing her God Arc which was an Ice Katana at that time and hurriedly tried to catch up._

_She stopped beside me and walked in the same pace as me. "Well, I believe this clover is really lucky since it managed to grow after all this time. It's special I think." She says to me but I continue on my way, ignoring her talk about 'luck.'_

"_Soma." She calls out._

"_What?"_

"_Do you think we can keep our promise to the future generation of a better future?" she asks longingly. _

"_I dunno. We can't avoid changes but I'm sure it'll be alright."_

_I noticed while we were talking that we were walking in a synchronized manner. "I sure do wish my kids can have a great future." Raven suddenly says in a hushed voice while looking at the setting sun._

I snap my eyes open, surprised to find out that I've dozed off because the lights in the Den were shutting down and I checked my side to see food beside me.

It was a plate of chicken and two servings of rice and a can of soda with an extra bottle of water. I see a note attached to it and realize the horrible handwriting well.

"Hello there Soma! I saw you sleeping in here and I heard the news from Tsubaki that you haven't been resting. I'm sure it's been a long time since you properly ate a delicious plate of food so I treated you. By the way, love the death god look !" – Lindow."

I allow myself to chuckle at his horrible penmanship and carry the food with me to my room. I press some buttons on the side of my room door and heard it unlock. I open the door to my room and turn on the lights. It's been a long time since I last entered my room and it was tempting to sleep right away and go back to killing some aragamis but I've gotta eat first.

I open the food which was carefully sealed with plastic and eat the food. It tasted good actually, the rations are getting better or maybe I'm just hungry. It didn't take long before I finished the food and plopped myself back to my bed. I removed my filthy clothes and tilted my head back. I slowly closed my eyes to shut myself out to this messed up world.

* * *

I was running away from someone I don't know but I knew I had to run since I was afraid. I was _afraid_ he'll catch up to me and destroy me. I don't know how I knew this but I just knew. I was running to nowhere. There was nothing but pitch black ahead of me but I continued to run in this dark abyss.

I bumped into someone and looked up to see a familiar face. She had the same tan skin as mine and wore a lab gown over her outfit. She wore glasses and had black hair that framed her face. I can see a resemblance in our faces.

She gave me a soft smile that eased me worries away. She gently brushed her palm against my cheek and I had no strength to slap it away. "Soma," she calls out gently and I just stand there with my mouth open in shock. Could she be?

She hugs me without warning and I realize I was taller than her and her warmth was surprisingly soothing and relaxing, like Raven's. "You've grown up now. My one and only regret is that I couldn't be there to guide you while you were growing up."

My skin tingled with nostalgia and I realized I heard this somewhere on my bastard father's room accidently. I could feel my heart beating fast and I have so much to tell her, so much but I just keep quiet and let her hug me.

"You will bring joy into this world. Promise me you'll protect everyone from the Aragami, _my son_." She continued and hugged me even tighter. I don't know why but I had no strength to resist her or to reply to her but she knew and just nodded in my silence.

She released me with a sad look on her eyes and I gave her the smallest of smiles I can manage. Suddenly, her eyes turn serious, "I have something important to tell you, Raven is—" She was cut off by another image and it was one I didn't like at all.

The last look she gave me was regretful and really sad and it took my all not to punch the image of this S.O.B in front of me.

"You were born to exterminate all aragami! Listen to me, exterminate them all!" the Director—or rather my father—roared and I punch the image of him in front of me to no avail. It was then I realized this was just a dream but what did Mom wanted to say to me? What was it? Why did she look so sad and what was that about Raven?

"I heard that a long time ago, bastard!" I snarl and the image slowly backs away then closes into me. I run away. Run away from that goddamn bastard.

I look back and see him still chasing on me. As I run, I hear different kind of voices around me. Voices that I use to hate.

"_He can't be human…"_

"… _A monster…"_

"_Oh no, I'm wishing to go with anyone rather than Soma. I'd rather not team up with that one if I can help it." _

"_A death god, I hate people like him…"_

"SHUT UP! Shut up! Everyone should just disappear!" I shout out as loud as I can to the voices that surround me and who were looking down on me.

I run but I can still hear their voices in my ears. It was like a crazy harmony of despicable voices and it pains my ears and I can't run away from it no matter how hard I run.

"Soma!" a voice calls out happily in the chaos around me. I look up and see a light, a gentle light in front of me. I squinted my eyes to see it better from afar. The voices stopped talking in my head and a gentle breeze brushes my face and blew my worries out in an instant. Now, all I can hear is her voice calling out to me.

"_Soma, you know, I love you!"_

"_I'm amazed, Soma. Hehe, don't let your guard down!"_

"_For now, this is goodbye."_

"Raven!" I call out and run faster to the light. The light grows clearer and I could see Raven enveloped in a gentle light. Raven looks at me and nods sadly and turns around to start running.

_No, don't run. Please not again. Don't leave me again, Raven!_

"Raven!" I call out as hard as I can and try to run faster.

_Why is it that no matter how hard I try to run I can't catch up with you?_

"Raven! I made a promise to Shio and myself to protect you no matter what!" I call out breathlessly and the figure in front of me turns around and stops running.

I continue running towards her, even though this is a dream I don't care. I want to tell her that I'll be right by her side forever. It shouldn't be that hard but why… why can't I bring myself to tell it? Why can't I just say it?

I trip much to my dismay and I was panting. I feel a sharp pain in my knee but it doesn't heal quickly like it used to. I was trying to catch my breath but the figure in front of me stopped for a moment to look at me but started turning around to run again. No, not again. Raven!

Shit! How can one girl mess up my damn life into this kind of confusion so easily?!

I force myself to stand up so I can run, so I can catch up to her.

"I've… gotta… protect her.. I've gotta..." I clench my fist and grit my teeth. With my new determination, I stood up and started chasing after her.

"Goddammit! Raven! Stop running away from me! How am I supposed to protect you if you don't _need_ me?! Shit!"

Raven turned towards my direction and I could see she was crying, "It's going to be up to you guys to protect the future I'm about to create in exchange for myself. It's a good future actually," She was smiling and I realized my vision was getting blurry. Was I crying or am I just having dizzy spells?

"I told you before! We've got the future to make it up! I want a future _with you_, Raven!" I shout out and I realize I was getting closer to the figure since she stopped running. There was surprise in her eyes and she blushed a bit. "Jeez, if you say that it's gonna be hard sacrificing myself then."

Finally, after all this time, I caught up to her and hugged her tight. I hauled her into my arms and hugged her as if I intended to never release her. She came without resistance, buried her face in my chest and wept in my embrace.

"It's okay, I'm here for you now," she whispered while stroking my hair, "It's going to be alright, Soma." She was referring to me holding back my tears but it was kind of ironic that I should be the one saying that because she was the one crying.

She leaned her head against my shoulder as if she no longer had the strength to hold it up. "Thanks for loving me," she whispered. Emotion clogged my throat, and it was all I could do to keep myself from kissing her. To keep from thanking her for still being alive.

I brushed the hair from her cheek which was wet with tears and she placed her hand over my fingers. At her touch, I shuddered with emotion.

"Raven."

She lifted her head from my shoulder. I didn't know what to say—how to say what was in my heart. Raising her hand to my lips, I planted tender, desperate kisses there. To the hand I longed to hold the most. To the hand that protected everyone.

I struggled for words but none came out. Pulling her to me, I searched blindly for her lips. With my kiss I told her what I couldn't communicate in any other way. We kissed with the urgency of two people who recognized how close they've come to losing each other, an urgency mingled with fear. We kissed until the tremors of apprehension were replaced with tremors of passion and need.

She pulled herself away from me and placed her finger over my lip, her finger was trembling. "I've gotta get going," She says in an apologetic tone and turns around and leave.

I wasn't in any state to run after her again but instead she just slowly started vanishing. She slowly vanished from leg up to head. I realized I couldn't stop her and that this dream was slowly crumbling. I couldn't do anything but watch her go away and watch her straightened back.

_Don't, Raven. Please. Don't go that way._

_Turn back. Don't try to take it all on yourself. Don't go. Don't leave us behind like what Shio did._

_Don't leave me alone._

Suddenly, Raven—even though half of her lower body was gone—came to me and hugged me and began crying on my chest. I couldn't do anything but let her cry on me. I allowed myself to be weak in her presence and softly cried with her but I wiped away the tears the moment they spilled.

"Soma.. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I am really sorry!" she apologized repeatedly but I felt numb to her damn apology. It was selfish of me to think that the happy days would never end with her. I remembered that the hurt in parting doesn't belong to one person at all but I continued to mope by myself and I didn't realize it hurt her too.

"Don't go… Stay with me. Please stay with me..." I softly whispered into her ears and quietly thanked that she couldn't see the tears that were slowly escaping my eyes.

"How I wish I could do that." She replied with her voice firm. Despite that, I could hear the barest of tremble in her voice and she was wavering right now but I didn't comment on how a choked sob is about to erupt on her voice since mine was wavering too so I had no right to say that.

"You don't need to have a reason…. It doesn't have to be for everyone's sake… Just don't go, Raven…" was all I managed to say to her as she disappears in my grasp, leaving behind a small, warm light in my hand and a thankful smile in her face.

* * *

I opened my eyes to see that it was already noon and that the sun's rays were up high and I realized I was sweating. I'm not sure if this was from the temperature or it's because I had a nightmare. Damn, this was a pain in the neck.

I checked my wardrobe for some clothes and found a clean pair of clothes. I placed my clean Dusky Mods top and bottom on my bed and tossed my used clothes on the laundry chute. I hurriedly grabbed a towel and went to the bath to cleanse myself and also to cool myself off.

After I finished bathing, I went outside with my lower half being wrapped in a towel with another smaller towel wrapped around my neck. There was a sudden knocking on the door. Who was this disturbing me in my room?

I opened the door and peeked outside to see the girl who treated my injuries in my last mission with Lindow and Sakuya. She was the one who had really white hair like mine and an eyepatch covering her other eye. She looked a bit curious and really sheepish, the timid type I guess.

"What do you want?" I ask her while raising an eyebrow and she bowed as a form of greeting. "Oh. Good morning, Soma. I'm Angel." She replied back timidly .

"Beats me, So what brings you here? If it's not important, I'm shutting the door." I replied back even though I was closing the door already. "Wait, Licca told me to—!" was all she could manage before I slammed the door in front of her. I don't like it when people come all the way to my room to tell me something.

I put on my clothes and I was about to go out when something caught my eye. It was a white envelope peeking out in front of my door. It looks like someone slipped it in secretly a long time ago while I was gone. I place the towel on my wet hair and stand up to go check the envelope.

It was basically a white envelope with no designs whatsoever. It had 'For Soma' on the top left corner and that's about it. No names and there was no address from whom. I couldn't even recognize the penmanship but the only penmanship's I recognize is Tsubaki's spidery handwriting, Lindow's printed handwriting, Sakuya's delicate handwriting and old man Sakaki's messy one but this one looked slanted, like italics when he wrote it.

I would usually ignore this but the way someone slipped it into my room perked up my curiosity. It must've been something important since he went through the trouble to write it down and even slip it into my room. I wonder what this asshole was thinking. Slipping it into my room and stuff.

I carefully open it and found a long piece of paper carefully folded inside. Before you open the paper though, the date was written on the center of the folded paper. It was written on June 2073 and I realized that today was recently July so this was written just recently.

_Hey there, Soma._

_If you're reading this then there's a huge chance I'm not in the den anymore or maybe, I might not even come back anymore._

_Anyways, I apologize in advance for hurting you and for not being able to stay by your side._

_By this time I'm sure you're blaming yourself non-stop because you were unable to protect me, don't blame yourself._

_It was my own choice._

_I know there's no way to be safe in this messed up world, no matter how much we kill. But I can't just sit here and watch Nova destroy us._

_Not when I know I can be of some use. That's why I'm giving my life in exchange for happiness. Paylor just told me I can save the whole world._

_I'm not a hero, I know._

_I have a plan to exterminate all aragamis in the future. I'm planning to sacrifice myself for 40 years of paradise for you._

_I'm sure it's more than enough time for Fenrir and the rest of the world to rebuild what was once lost. _

_I wish I could see the future I created though but it's only selfish thinking._

_If your Mom_—_Prof. Aisha_— _was here then there would be a century of paradise and happiness. _

_I love you, Soma. I really, really do. You were my first love._

_As I write this, I'm crying with tears you know? It's painful imagining you reading this in the future._

_Even if I sound brave, I'm actually terrified of the thought of not coming back. Really terrified._

_I have a hopeful wishing to stay with you forever. I can even see the both of us being parents in the future. _

_Oh, I just strayed over the topic. Anyways, please tell my apologies to Alisa and Kota. I'm sure I promised them another foolish promise._

_Tell everyone I'm thankful for everything they've done for me. _

_Promise me, Soma. Promise me that you won't give up on living after I leave this world. _

_I want you to see a beautiful world out there, one without aragami._

_The glimpse of peace we both secretly wished for._

_Don't let your guard down and Don't forget about me, okay? _

_I love you._

_-Raven J. Schicksal (HEHE :3)_

There was one drop, and then another drop and then another. The letter was slowly getting wet with the tears that dropped on my eyes and I hastily rubbed them off and returned the letter back to the envelope and kept it inside my closet so it won't get damaged.

_Why does she always do everything by herself? Why does she endure the pain for others? Why is it that everything I love always gets away from me?_

I stand up and storm off to old man Sakaki's room to demand for a flight to the moon. And maybe threaten him a little if he won't agree.

* * *

**(Raven's POV)**

When I came to, I found my surroundings all dark and cold. I couldn't see a thing but I could hear the sound of flesh being torn apart from one another and it was horrible. I felt a little light-headed and I found myself getting dizzy and my memory was foggy but it was slowly getting clearer. I try to ask myself some questions just to be sure.

_What's your name?_

Raven Jackson.

_What age?_

16 years old about to turn 17 in 5 months time.

_What are you?_

A Gods Eater that will save everyone from this messed up world.

_Where are you?_

I wasn't able to answer the last question since I really didn't have any memory of what happened last night. All I faintly remember last night was that I fought against a large group of aragami single-handedly and got hurt a lot of times.

I fought a lot of aragami and then, just when I was about to turn my God Arc into predator mode, Shio—No, Nova—stopped me into going into Burst Mode and kicked me in the gut a lot of times. So that explains why my body felt really sore and painful.

The Bias Factor was also helping in regenerating my body but it can't heal me fast enough or rather my body wouldn't let it heal me. Nova must've done something to stop the injected oracle cells from healing me and my body can't handle the change in the oracle cells being stopped from protecting the vessel it's trying to protect by some cursed spell.

I was a person shivering from darkness and fear. I never showed anyone my weak side—the side of me which was scared of dying and making a mistake—for fear that they will feel obligated to protect my weak side and sacrifice themselves in the process. It's my vulnerable secret that allowed me to reach this far without anyone sacrificing themselves and enabled me to protect the ones I loved.

Suddenly, I heard loud footsteps heading my way and I could make out a huge Dyaus Pita hovering over me. I could tell by the its scent from all those battles I had against it and because it was the aragami Nova brings with her everywhere.

It amazes me on how Nova was able to control these monsters that have a devouring nature and will kill their own kind without thinking. But it amazes me more how I'm still alive and _why_ I'm still alive.

"What? Came here to finish me off?" I ask with a slight smirk on my face, I'm in no condition to act tough. As if without warning, a bright light appears and I have to close my eyes with the sudden light which was complete darkness before.

I look around me and see that I was in a cage and my ankles were chained to the ground. My God Arc was beside me and I hurriedly reached for it but the Dyaus Pita steps in my way and roars at me.

"Patience, Benjamin." A voice cackles out loud and I could see a pale figure walking towards the Dyaus Pita. Did she just call it Benjamin?! Cool, so aragamis do have names. The pale figure approaches me and grabs my chin with one hand. I have locked eyes once again with the aragami whose eyes have complete madness and evil in them.

"I always loved those look in your eyes. The one that isn't scared of anything or anyone if it's for a loved one." Nova comments slyly and jerks my head to the left then to the right, as if examining me. She brings her face close to mine and sticks her tongue out and I could smell blood on her mouth and it was disgusting.

"You're disgusting." I whisper loudly and the Dyaus Pita roars angrily but Nova hushes it with one glare.

"How repulsive am I to you?" She coyly asks after seeing me wrinkle my nose in disgust and licks my cheek much to my chagrin. She murmurs on something in a different language and releases her tight grip on my chin but doesn't remove her face from mine.

"I love the smell of your blood. I wonder what your flesh tastes like?" she asks me and I spit on her face much to her surprise. "You can't kill me that fast. I won't go down without a fight." I reply back and a sly grin forms on her face.

"Wonderful. I love spunky types of prey. I should make you cower in fear the next time I visit you for more spice. The previous times I tortured you weren't enough but I'm sure your mind doesn't remember." She mumbles while making a pouty face and I was confused. She never tortured me before.

Wait, why can't I remember anything that happened the previous nights? How many days have passed? How long was I out?

"What are you talking about?" I demand from her and she looks at me with a playful look on her eyes, "I wonder. If I showed you, I wonder what will your body's reaction be on what I've done to you these past days?" she coyly asked me.

Without warning, I felt a sharp pain on my side and I coughed up blood. I fell to the ground and saw that my cage was filled with dried blood and I could recognize that these were _my_ blood. What was that sharp pain? It was as if she suddenly kicked me there and how come I didn't see anything coming?

"Damn you, Nova. I could taste blood on my mouth now. It's disgusting." I comment with a smirk on my face and I noticed my vision was kind of dimmer and not as wide as before. I felt dizziness in my head but I forced myself to think straight.

"What did you do to me?" I ask her weakly as more blood spurted from my mouth. Nova leans down on me and gives me a huge smile. It pains me on how she's using Shio's body for these horrible deeds. I don't have much time left. I should stop this madness already. I must defeat her at once but why does my body feel so weak and injured when I can't even remember what I've done the past few days?

"Well, do you want to remember?" she asks me with a mad grin on her face. She's definitely enjoying hurting me—Correction, she enjoys hurting everything.

I didn't answer and she gently poked my forehead and an intense pain overwhelms me. It was like as if my mind forgot what happened on my body and when she poked me, all the pain I've experienced lately is coming back to me. To my body.

What is this? It's painful. It hurts so bad. I'm scared. I'm scared.

Memories of myself being tortured appeared. Last night, I was forced to battle a hoard of aragami who were left to starve for a week and they were desperately hungry and started charging for me. I had to battle them with all my might while being thrown and charged against by a lot of Kongou. After the battle, I was extremely weak and also greatly injured but the tortures last night didn't stop there.

I was forcibly entered into a room with a huge water tank and Nova trapped me inside as the water slowly rose. I didn't know how to swim since there was no ocean that was safe enough to swim against. I couldn't breathe and I couldn't cry for help at all.

The water eventually reached past my head and I felt like my lungs were about to burst and I remember Nova was cackling wickedly while watching me. I remember almost dying because I drowned. No, I did drown and when I came to, I was here in back in my cage and fell asleep due to exhaustion.

"How does it feel? Remembering the agony you experience every night? This is just a memory of what happened last night, Raven." She whispered in my ear and I found myself trembling with fear. "Want to remember the other nights?" she added slyly while taking a lock of my hair.

No, I'm scared but I can't let her know I'm scared. My body was trembling even though my mind was straight. My spirit is wavering.

Nova must've noticed this since she was chuckling to herself, "Your body is afraid. It now remembers the pain it went through. You are cowering in fear right now, Raven."

I hug my body as tight as I can to stop it from shaking. Deep inside I was afraid of her and my body was reacting to this thought and I despised myself for being scared. She playfully covers my right eye and I notice something which scared me. I can't see. I can't see anything. Then, she releases her hand and then I can see again.

Fear struck my heart. My left eye was blind. I was blind on my left eye and it scared me for I am very dependent on my vision.

"Shame though. I intended to use your body as a vessel for this temporary body feels a bit weak. And think of it, if I use your body as a vessel I can use your God Arc and kill everyone and nobody won't be able to harm me since they think it's still you in this body." She adds wickedly and cackles wickedly like the villains in the Bugarally series.

She didn't expect it. She didn't expect my fist to make contact with her face. I punched her as hard as I can that my knuckles hurt. She was sent back flying on the ground as I grabbed my God Arc and its flesh crawled its way to the bracelet attached to my wrist happily. It even seemed eager now that we were connected once again.

"Don't make fun of me. I can still fight." I reply back angrily and gripped my God Arc tightly and began whacking the thick chains in my ankles. I didn't manage to cut through it straight but hey, I managed to snap the chains. I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder and noticed a gash in it. I had a lot of wounds actually now that I examined my body.

I had a large gash on my forehead, a lot of cuts on my arms, legs and face and the previous wounds I had before were bleeding now. Even my hands. And even if I tried to wipe my mouth with my hand because of blood, there was blood on my hand whenever I wiped it so it's practically useless. I was a living zombie!

Ugh, I'm thankful there isn't a mirror here or anyone to see my appearance or maybe they—even I—will faint because of my appearance right now.

Nova laughed much to my dismay. It was like she became mad over her stay on the moon. She became a psychotic monster who wanted to devour everyone. "Nice! Nice! I love it when you fight back! Be careful I don't touch you or I might _accidently_ help you regain your torture memories. You wouldn't want to experience such delicious pain again, would you?"

She was right. I am scared of her touching me. I do not want to feel that pain again, I'm quite thankful she erased my memories of those incidents. Before, I was ready to face anything on what happened on the moon.

For that, I had to agree that I'll be her vessel for the Apocalypse and in exchange, she'll spare Lindow and the others for now. I agreed for a secret reason which I discussed with Paylor and Tsubaki.

To destroy her once she tries to control my body with my Resonance.

I felt uneasy when Tsubaki told me about this death mission. At that time, I've been feeling nervous since unusual things have been happening in Fenrir lately especially the news broadcasted every day. I thought I'd feel more at ease if I went there so I decided to go. It's become like a dream so I've forgotten.

I was wishing for it so strongly that time, but as a lot of things have been happening, maybe I've been taking things for granted. I even forgot that I wished to be by everyone's side whenever I can. Why is it that I can only remember these things now?

With one move of a finger, Nova can order a hoard of aragami to attack me. I only have my God Arc with me and it's more than enough for me to survive this fight. I hold my God Arc over my shoulder and prepare for a long fight.

"Raven, don't let your guard down." I whisper to myself as the aragami battle starts.

* * *

It begins with the Ogretails in the front lines. Nothing big to handle so I go for the kill. I change my footing and slash the one nearest to me, my blade immediately hacking away its flesh and I can feel the Oracle Cells in my body returning. I decide to go for a close range combat battle and maybe try to last long so I can kill Nova with my own hands and go deep down on her mind and save the whole world while I'm at it.

How I wished I could've given the others my proper farewell but it's not use thinking about it now. "Prepare yourself, Nova!" I grunted as I jabbed the Kongou who pounced on me and I proceed to slash away the others. "I will kill you with my own hands!" A Gboro-boro appears behind of me all of the sudden and rams into me but I managed to dodge it and slash its freakin' horn cells with one hit.

"Eat this!" I shout as I devour the Fallen Polar Kongou with my blade and feel a surge of power rush into my body and every slash I make become stronger. Burst Mode. An Ogretail pounces on me, making me fall to the ground but I try to regain my balance by jumping up.

"Don't underestimate the Lieutenant of the 1st Unit!" I shout as I hit one Zygote and epicly jump to the other Kongou as I jabbed its head and while I was on the air, I didn't hesitate to hit the Sariel in front of me. After a year of being a God Eater, I could handle this pretty well. It greatly increased my agility too.

I rolled on the ground and with one hand, I pushed myself off the ground and flipped over in the air to regain my balance. I started slashing like crazy on the aragami around me and unfortunately, a Kongou bit my hand. "Let go of it, aragami!" I shout and plunge my blade deep into the aragami's head, spraying its blood on my face.

My hand was bitten but it looked like a wolf bite of some sorts so I could handle the pain pretty well. If you were a God Eater, you had remarkable physical stuffs. I slid down beneath the Vajra's stomach and raised my sword up as I ripped out its stomach. I have to devour the cores after this so they won't regenerate.

I was still in Burst Mode and I had to make use of this moment. I see an Aether coming for me and I prepare a Charge Crush. I wait for the moment the Aether approaches me in a considerable distance and I release the Charge Crush as the Aether groans in pain and falls to its death.

I use the Aether as a footstool and with my injured hand, I use my hand as support as I jump for an aerial attack. "Destroy her!" Nova screamed loudly as the Zygote in front of me looks back, only to meet my blade in the eye. I remove my sword from its eye and put up my shield as a Kongou overwhelms me with its strength.

I can feel the grip on my feet losing as I grunted to protect myself from the Kongou's raging mouth which reeked like aragami blood. I look around me and see a Vajra preparing for its Spark Ball attack or whatever you call it.

"Oh, shoot." I say and release my shield and with the Kongou outbalanced, I drove my blade into the Kongou's stomach, cutting its body into half. I slide to cover more distance so I can dodge that Spark Ball and luckily, I managed to dodge it.

I look ahead and see a Zygote who was stupidly looking at the other way. The Zygote noticed my presence and I leaped out of its way when it tried to stun me with its yellow toxic powder and hurriedly changed into Gun Mode and shot an aragami bullet at its way.

I was gradually growing weaker and I know that I have to go into Burst Mode soon. If only Alisa were here.

The Cocoon maiden ahead of me was already shooting me with its laser beams and I roll to dodge it all. I go to my left and then to my right and let my God Arc return to blade form and leap as I slash the Cocoon Maiden, ending its life. There was a Gboro-boro ahead of me and I leaped to its way and slashed my blade into its mouth.

"I should be called a 'Death God'," I mused myself as I began hacking into the path of aragamis.

In the corner of my eye, I could see that Nova was enjoying the show. She was looking at it as if it was a gladiator fight but I wanna show her that I'm not just a pawn in her games. That I was the player of this chessboard and soon, I will eventually checkmate her when she makes her one false move.

Adrenaline was slowly leaving my body and I was getting weaker. Burst mode was taking its toll. I had to go Burst Mode soon. I see a Chi-you in front of me and I fail to dodge its attack because it attacked my left side. My vulnerable spot due to blindness. It hits me right in the side and I hear someone scream in agony. It was me. Tears were streaming down my cheek because of the pain.

I clutch my side and stagger to stand up, "It's not over… yet," I hold my hand to my mouth and see fresh blood covering my gloved hands. Damn, things aren't looking good.

I grab my God Arc and I close my left eye as blood from my temple runs down it. My left temple was bleeding and my head was throbbing in pain. I was exhausted but I won't give up.

"I made a promise… to protect the future… I even hurt Soma for this... that's why… that's why.. That's why I'm not going to give up!" I grab my God Arc and feel strength returning to me. I realized I was crying, I'm not sure why.

"We… will bring joy into this world..! And for that, I will… exterminate all the aragami..!" I shout as my strength begins returning to me.

I could feel myself radiating life and I was covered in a white warm light. It felt like Burst mode only that this light had warmth into it. I feel pain leaving my body and I look at my body to realize, the oracle cells were healing me once again. In fact, they were healing me rapidly. I've never felt this feeling before.

"Impossible! W-what is this monstrosity?!" Nova exclaims as the aragami slowly begin to back away from the light. Nova's eyes were widened in shock and terror and she slumped to the ground as she watched me.

"This is the power of a Gods Eater. The warriors of Fenrir that fight against aragami. Fenrir's last stand to humanity!" a voice called out and I look back to see Soma—Wait, it wasn't him. She looked like him and I've seen her face before. She had black hair and tan skin like Soma and she was wearing a lab gown. I've seen her before on my Terminal screen.

"Aisha… Gauche?" I ask and she nods softly. "I've planted my spirit when I gave birth to Soma. You could say I was his silent protector. I've seen you. Soma treasures you deeply and loves you so much that he's been tense ever since you left." She informs me and her hand pats my shoulder and she gives me a soft nudge forward.

"Now go, protect everyone from the aragami!"

"Here I go!" I run to the nearest aragami which was a Susano'o and I prepare my blade for it. "Ultimate Burst Charge Crush!" I shout loudly as I release the horrifying blow on the Susano'o. It shrieks in pain but it wasn't enough to kill it. It staggers to stand up and I jump back to dodge its attacks better.

It started piercing me with its scorpion-ish tail but I dodged every hit thanks to my harsh training with Soma. I charge for it and at the right moment when it seemed off guard, I plant my feet to the ground, stopping my forward motion for a moment and with the help of physics, swerved my blade to the left and let it plunge deep into the Susano'o's face or its mask.

Blood started spurting out and it landed on my face but it adds a nice touch actually, "Hell yeah. They see me hittin, they hatin'!" I chanted happily and began going for the other aragami.

"What are you?" Nova's voice called out and I could see her staggering to stand up, "Are you really human?"

"No. I am a _God Eater_."

* * *

(...)

Raven stood in front of a camera crew and bunches of stylist were around her trying to fix up the final touches for her appearance in the Author's note corner. Beside her was an angry Soma reluctantly holding his microphone. Sakaki had to drag him all the way to the shooting and it wasn't an easy fight at all.

"Okay! We're going live in 3, 2, 1!"

"Hey everyone! Please bother reading this Author's note for once will you!" Raven's voice echoed over the fanfiction screen as she stares at you angrily with her cute pouting face. "So, I asked the author on how things were going on and she said the ending will OFFICIALLY be in the next chapter!" Raven beams happily.

"Sorry for everyone out there who thought this was going to be the last chapter!" Raven adds happily and blows a flying kiss towards your direction.

Soma just grunts and reluctantly puts his mouth near the microphone. Why were they in charge of the Author's note farewell section anyway? "So yeah, since the damn author is a bit confused on how to end this story. She's hoping you enjoyed this latest update and maybe wait for the next damn chapter."

Raven giggles cutely and looks at you, our fellow reader. "Hey guys. I feel like Soma's cheating on me. I've stumbled upon a lot of fanfics with him being paired up with a lot of girls!"

Soma's eyes widened in shock and he lost his composure for a moment, "Wha—?! B-Beats me!" Raven slides her arm into Soma's shoulder and brings her face close to his, "Don't worry, Soma. You're my patootie in this fanfic." She whispers seductively with a slight purr in her voice as her fingers play with his tie.

"Patootie?! Are you freaking kidding me?! That's so lame!"

Suddenly, Raven stops making moves on an embarrassed Soma and she hurriedly grabs the microphone, "Waah! Sorry for that! I was having a moment. Anyways, the next chapter is definitely gonna be updated this week. Man, I look cool here in the next chapter!"

Soma hurriedly grabs the microphone from Raven and rips the script right in front of the computer screen, "Why am I crying here?! And why is it that Raven gets to be badass in this chapter?! She's like the hero in Naruto or something!"

"Soma, you watch that old anime Naruto? You seem to despise Bugarally but you're actually a closet Naruto fan. Puh~!"

Soma's cheek reddened, "I'm not! Just back off and shut up!"

"Aww c'mon! Stop being so shy! See ya later then folks and stay tuned! Leave a review too!"

"Hey! Don't leave me looking uncoo—!"

*****_**BZZZT***_


	5. I'm glad I met you

**Author's Note:**

_**Hey guys! It's finally the end of this epic fanfic! I feel so happy and proud I managed to make a fanfic like this. I plan on changing the first 2 chapters because I found them cheesy =.= TOO CHEESY in fact.**_

_**Don't worry, the plot is still the same but maybe I'll change the first two chapters to add action…**_

_**Anyways, thanks to all that reviewed and continued to support me! Please look forward on my GE2 fanfic sometime this year.. Oh, and I made another one-shot fanfic with Raven and Soma. It's a humor fanfic, I guess. It's still in the middle though.**_

_**Everything will be solved in this chapter and you can PM me if you got confused on one part. I'll be glad to answer it. Just PM me XD!**_

_**Okay guys, I'm a sophomore (**_**yes, a sophomore XD**_**) in the oncoming school year a.k.a in two days so I might not be able to update you guys so I apologize in advance. Also, I'm currently accepting betas :DDD**_

* * *

**(Raven's POV)**

My cheek was pressed against the cold and familiar cage floor. I drifted slowly to consciousness but the only thing that was in my mind was all I wanted to do was sleep. I shifted my position to give myself a bit of comfort and I felt the pain in my cheekbone where it lay against the metal floor.

My whole body was aching. My arms and my legs and most of all my head–there was a terrible pounding on my head. All the pain made me just want to go back to sleep. I pushed myself up with one elbow, opened my eyes and retched much to my dismay, vomiting all over the floor. I tasted the familiar taste of sour bile and I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

My head throbbed. I felt dizzy and seasick, as if the world were moving, as if I was I were rocking back on forth on a boat. I managed a groan and rolled onto my back, turning away from the puddle of vomit. The pain in my head made me feel light-headed and made me breathe short, shallow gasps. And I still felt sick, as if everything were moving.

I opened my eyes and looked around for my God Arc but it was nowhere to be found. Shit, everything is going horrible for me. My working right eye was blurry from the pain and I had to blink a lot of times just to clear up my vision. Where was I?

I looked around me and peered over the cage bars and realized I was all alone again. There was a torch outside the cage where I was being held and it provided enough light for my case. I clumsily try to work my way to the door and feel the familiar spring of the door.

I try to open it but it was tightly locked. I tried opening it again but the lock was too tight. I realized the cage as the cage where Nova held me before but I can feel something strange. Why aren't there any aragami guarding me?

I try to stay calm despite the throbbing pain on my head and remember what happened. Okay, I remember almost being half-dead until Aisha saved me by giving me the Ultimate Burst Mode and I started hacking and slashing the Aragami like crazy, like an Aragami death god.

I was about to make my way to Nova until she touched my forehead, stopping me by regaining my memories on how I lost my vision on my left eye.

* * *

_I was fighting again with my God Arc and I was badly injured. I had deep gashes on my legs and a lot of blood was running down my body thanks to my previous fight with the Vajra family. I was working my way out and I used my God Arc like a cane, as my only support for walking._

_Without warning, I could hear a deep growling sound like a wolf and I feel the hair on my neck raise. I could tell that this was a very dangerous aragami and I've never heard a growl like that, never. I could feel a chill creeping down my spine as I turned to the direction of the growl and raise my God Arc defensively._

_An aragami I've never seen before appeared and towered over me with its wolf-like body. For some reason, I recognize it as the aragami in the Fenrir badge. I could tell it belonged to the Vajra family due to the similarities and it had red streaks around its neck like a mane. Since it was from the Vajra family, I could tell the Crush melee attacks are effective on its front legs._

_It bends down and sniffs the blood in the air and locked eyes with me. It howled and I let my guard up, this was a new aragami and it will threaten the world. The more reason to save the world and exterminate all the aragami. I hurriedly raise my shield instinctively, anticipating its attack._

_It growls in the air at first and makes a huge leap towards me but it doesn't land on me instead it lands near me, sending shockwaves through the ground. The ground rumbles beneath my feet and I lose my balance and stumble to the ground but at the last moment, I plunge my God Arc on the hard ground in order to stop myself from flying back._

_Such power. I was using a rank 10 shield yet it managed to send me back flying. Damn, I sure do hope the next God Eaters will create a powerful God Arc to stop a monster like this and bring it down. It charges toward me and despite the sharp pain, I force myself to regain my balance by pushing the ground with my right hand as a support out of its way._

_I do a flip in the air and regain my balance momentarily before it tries to swipe me and I put out my shield and there was an explosion in front of me. It was powerful actually that I felt the explosion tremble up to my arms despite using a tower shield. _

_I jump back and keep holding out my shield but it doesn't attack. Instead it slams both front feet on the ground and nothing happens._

_However, I knew that aragami attacks usually surprise you and are very unexpected. I hurriedly change to Blade Form and run against the closest rock and jab my blade there as a support for bringing me up higher and with enough support, I jump up and hurriedly bring up my shield and suddenly there was a white light and dirt was flying everywhere. _

_It was a delayed explosion as expected._

_I bring my God Arc down and pant as my arm goes weak. Shit, I'm not going to last long since I'm greatly weak. "Heh, such a strong aragami. I might as well do the honor and name you, 'Marduk'." I say with a slight smirk on my face and it roars at me._

"_Did you know? Marduk is the name of the creator god in Babylonian myth." I tell it as it begins charging for me. I've only witnessed two of its attacks. _

_One is that it swipes you with its right front leg and leaves an explosion behind afterwards it slams both of its front feet on the ground, causing a delayed explosion. Two is that it makes a big leap towards you, sending shockwaves on the ground._

_It was charging for me and I felt a smirk form on my lips._

"_Marduk, I am Raven and it means, protector!" I shout as I slash my blade towards its front legs when it tried charging for me. It roars in pain and stands up on its back legs as it howls in pain. I didn't manage to hurt it that much since it had a thick plate of armor on its front legs._

"_I'm guessing you were a blaze type so my God Arc, a freeze type, is very effective against your front feet." I tell it as I began melee attacking it like non-stop._

_I try slashing its front legs again and hack away the thick armor that protects its weak spot. "Shit! Penetrate it!" I shout as I force my blade to penetrate it and finally the blade cuts it and there was a horrible sound of bone cracking. Its front arm flies away and it howls in pain and despair, surrounding me with explosions._

"_That's just the beginning!" I shout as I jump on its head as it began rampaging, not noticing me. I open the Predator in my God Arc and let it take a bite on a flesh it never tasted, "Eat away!" I shout as the aragami in my blade bites it and sends a new power coursing through me._

_Burst Mode always made me feel good since it regains my OP back to full health and I could feel myself growing stronger. Actually, when the others said that Soma could retain Burst Mode for so long is something I also have. It's because both of our blades have Burst Duration since I also noticed that I lasted longer in Burst Mode too. _

"_Eat my dust!" I shouted as I was about to bring my blade down the aragami's neck to finally end its reign but it suddenly shook me off. I lost my balance as I plummeted to the ground. I don't know what happened to me but what I last saw were the stars twinkling above me until I felt a sharp pain on my back. _

_The Marduk must've ducked its massive head and I was tossed into the air like a small doll. Its mane hit me on the left side of my face and sent me flying through the hard wall. I slammed the left side of my face on that wall as I began slumping down the ground, leaving a bloody and messy trail of blood on the wall._

_The pain was an intense feeling as I felt myself losing a lot of blood and I was getting dizzy. I could hear the Marduk's right foot splash on the mud as it began closing on me. It must've thought I was dead but it didn't realize I was still in Burst Mode, still alive and breathing. I was dizzy with fear, my heart pounding on my chest._

_It was so close to me and it began smelling my blood. With the aragami so close, I could smell the sweetish blood smell, the sickening scent of a carnivore. I tensed my body, waiting for the unevitable. _

_It didn't eat me yet instead it smelled my God Arc and it jumped back almost repulsively, knowing that a God Arc was a dangerous weapon. This was my chance. With all my strength, I changed my God Arc into gun mode and fired at it._

_I didn't know where I was aiming due to my blurry vision and I realized my vision was not as wide as it used to be. At that moment, I realized my left eye was blind but I forced myself to stay calm. I didn't have to worry about missing since all my bullets were homing lasers and they automatically hit the Marduk at his weak spots. _

_I heard it give a last cry in pain as it staggered to the ground and dropped dead. I scrambled to my feet as I tried to stay calm with my new terror. I touch my left eye and saw blood meet my gloved hands as I forced down the choked sob on my throat. A wave of nausea and dizziness swept over me but I made myself stay calm. _

_I weakly crawled my way to the Marduk and devour its core to avoid it from regenerating. I checked my God Arc and realized it was a rare core. I sure do hope that in the future, somebody will find my God Arc and maybe take the core to study it. Well, _if_ they find someone compatible with my God Arc and _if_ my God Arc is still solid and alright._

It was the last thing I thought before I felt my vision getting blurry as I slumped to the ground.

* * *

I heard something open and saw a little girl move in front of me but there was only one little girl in here in this hellish place.

"Ah, so you've come to? Quite a long sleep there." She remarks as she steps closer to the torch and I realize she wasn't alone instead there were two Chi-yous behind her and if she makes me fight them, I might as well be good as dead.

She must've seen the worry in face since she laughs at my reaction, "Don't worry. I recently have a change of plans. I might as well turn you into an aragami."

"What?" I asked in horror and disbelief.

"Isn't it great if my vessel was a powerful aragami? Since you're a New-Type I wonder what kind of aragami will you turn into? A new species maybe?" she coyly asks as she approaches my cage and gestures the Chi-you to hold me down.

I try to put up a fight but I was too damn weak and I couldn't even move my arms well, "Hold her down well," she instructs the Chi-you who obey her at once.

One Chi-you holds me down and grips both of my wrists and puts my hands behind my back so I can't attack while the other one holds my legs and grips my chin, digging its sharp claws in my chin.

The force it puts in my chin, forces my mouth to open a bit and Nova grins widely. She brushes her hand along my face, caressing it gently. She runs her fingers on my left cheek and my other cheek and with her index finger, she runs it down the bridge of my nose. Her touch was cold. And deadly.

"I might as well take a last look at your beautiful face. It's a beautiful face, really." She remarks as she holds out a knife and slashes her wrist without hesitation. Realization came over me and I realized that she was planning to turn me into an aragami by making me drink her blood.

I struggled to get free but their grip was tight and I was too weak. The Chi-you tilts my head upwards and I see Nova's wrist above me and it was bleeding. A few drops drop on my face and Nova swears under her breath. "You, force her mouth open and make sure she drinks _every_ drop." Nova instructs the Chi-you who digs his claws deeper on my flesh.

I scream in pain and before I realize it, I tasted the warmth of blood flowing down on my throat and my eyes widened in shock.

I drank her blood.

I scream in absolute pain as a sharp pain courses through my body. It was extremely painful, almost a burning sensation. I could feel my vision going black and white as the pain spreads throughout my body. It was as if I was being burned alive.

"Hold her down," Nova called out as I began rampaging widely and the Chi-you struggled to hold me down. I gasp for air as I found myself having difficulty breathing and began wheezing.

"The structure of her body is changing. The pain is only natural." She explains to the Chi-you and I felt their grip loosen and I dug my fingers deep on my clothes to ease the pain and for me to clutch something as support. The pain was extremely overwhelming.

I force myself on a glaring showdown with her but she scornfully smiles at my appearance, "You will lose yourself soon and turn into an Aragami." Nova bends down on my eye level and I noticed that her slashed wrist doesn't heal fast and it looks like she doesn't mind or even notice the pain.

"Why don't you try and beg me before you change? Or will you try to kill me? But I can't confirm that the curse will be undone." She adds playfully while patting my head like a child. She's teasing me.

"Which will be faster? The transformation to completely control you or for you to kill me? Well, well, you don't have time to be worried." She says in a singsong voice.

What the hell was she talking about?

"Turn into a beast who will devour your fellow friends, Raven. Don't resist." She seductively whispers into my ear and I grit my teeth for my weakness.

"I have decided." I whisper back to her and her eyes narrow curiously, "Oh? What is it?"

"A beast that devours its friends. It is certainly an easy and a delicious choice. However, I am Fenrir's God Eater, I will protect my home. Even if I have to give up my life for it." I reply back with forced determination.

"Nova!" a voice suddenly called out. It was a very familiar voice and it reminded me of someone as powerful as me and just as superior.

"You!" Nova called out and I don't know what was going on but I could hear the sound of battle outside. Why can I hear blades clashing and bullets being shot? Was I hallucinating because I was close to death?

I struggled to look up despite the pain and see a very familiar blade. What was a Serpent Warblade X doing here? Unless.. Unless… it's..

Rei Kagane.

He locks eyes with me and his eyes widen with relief and shock.

"Meddling human!" Nova shrieks as she orders the Chi-you to fight Rei but even I easily know that Rei was stronger than her and he knew it too.

"Soma! It's Raven! She's still alive!" he shouts with all his might as he jumps to bring a Charge Crush on the Chi-you.

No, what was Soma doing here? No, no, no. Please. Not right now or else I'll be so happy and start crying and at the same time, be so mad for his rashness.

I hear the sound of someone rushing to me but I don't care anymore. But deep down inside, I knew I was relieved I got to see him one last time.

"Raven!" a familiar voice cries out. Crap, it was Soma. I feel a tear coming loose and start sobbing. I hear the cage being broken with a Charge Crush and a familiar warmth hugs me and brings me close to his chest.

It really was Soma. This was Soma's scent.

I could hear his heart racing and his arms were trembling with fear and worry of losing me. I manage to bring up my arm and clutch his right side.

"I'm.. so.. sorry.." I managed to say despite the ringing I can hear in my ears. I knew I was going to lose consciousness soon.

"I can't bring myself to… forgive you for what...you've done…coming all the way here…but… I'm sure you…are hurting far worse… than me…even if that's true, I'm just glad you're…alive, Soma," was all that I managed to say as the world darkened around me.

The last thing I saw were Soma's stormy blue eyes filled with worry. Eyes that begged me for forgiveness.

* * *

**(Soma's POV)**

Seeing Raven in this state was truly shocking for me. She didn't look as cheerful and as energetic as before. The healthy, clear-eyed girl I saw a week ago has lost at least 15 pounds and developed a nervous tremor in her hands. Underneath her fringes, I could clearly see the dark circles below her eyes and her ruined clothes cannot conceal the pain she feels when she moves.

She's a person badly damaged.

She was also full of wounds that piled over the time she was here. Nova must've done whatever she wanted to do to Raven. Her wounds were serious looking and I began to feel frustrated with myself for arriving too damn late. I press a button on my earpiece and wait for the other end to respond.

"_Angel here."_

"We've found Raven and she's barely alive! Come here immediately!"

"_That's the best news for the day! I'm so relieved! Where are you located?"_

"In the left side of the building. Near the end."

"_Copy that."_

I grasp her weak body and realize she had gotten lighter and I force myself to stay calm from worry. I carry her protectively and ran to the Entrance so that girl might as well heal her at once. I carried her over my back and with my right hand, I guard the both of us with my God Arc.

"I'll leave the three of them with you!" I call over to Rei who was putting up a pretty great fight. No wonder he's a Lieutenant. He resembles Raven in some ways or so. Especially the look in their eyes.

"Roger that! Take her to a safe place at once!" he replied as I began running to Angel.

* * *

_(Flashback scenes)_

Before all of that though, Soma angrily demanded the Director to hand him a trip to the moon at the Director's room much to Paylor's surprise. Tsubaki sighed since this was the 6th request for the day and Soma got confused.

"Who were the other five who asked for this?" he demanded angrily.

"Well, some close friends Raven gathered on the recent mission. You know some of them Soma, let's see…" Paylor replied while rummaging through his drawer for a list. He seemed calm though despite Soma looking daggers at him.

"Let's see here. Ah! Here it is. It's Sakura, Rei, Angel, Lindow and Kota." Paylor beamed ever so calmly and rationally especially after seeing the discomfort in Soma's face since he never enjoyed company.

"Don't worry. I was planning not to send squads up there to risk fewer casualties. As inhumane as I sound right now, you know very well that this is the best choice. Especially since the Apocalypse Project is coming." Paylor sighed as he pinched the bridge of his own nose from fatigue as the Director.

"Originally, this is a very secret mission I gave to Raven but unfortunately, Nova had to destroy it." Paylor added in a low voice while crumpling the list.

"And thanks to that, I had a lot of demanders–especially you–blaming me for this so I decided to send you guys a flight to the moon which was originally intended for Raven. It's quite lucky she was abducted by Nova so now you guys can go there instead."

"Don't give me that crap! Just shut up!" Soma replied back angrily. He didn't want to hear more of the damn crap spouting in his mouth.

"Very well. Tsubaki," Paylor replies calmly and calls out to Tsubaki who simply nods and leaves the room. "What are you trying to do?" Soma asks.

"Well, to announce the news to the others. To send you to the moon. Tsubaki will explain the details later." Paylor replied and began typing random codes on his computer screen. He was mumbling something under his breath and Soma looked up at the green hologram that was in front of him only for Paylor to cover it immediately.

"Calling God Eaters. Calling the attention of God Eaters." It was Hibari's voice and Soma looked at Paylor to see if he had something to do with it but the old man was still typing some codes and looked like he was searching for something.

"Calling Lindow Amamiya, Sakura Yui, Rei Kagane, Kota Fujiki and Angel Torricelli. I repeat, calling Lindow Amamiya, Sakura Yui, Rei Kagane, Kota Fujiki and Angel Torricelli. You are being summoned by the Director. Please head to the Executive Section as soon as possible." Hibari's voice repeated and finally, Paylor beams and clicks something, a satisfied look on his face.

It didn't take more than five minutes for the five of them to be present along with Tsubaki who must've waited for them at the door before going in together.

"Ah, you guys. I have gathered you all for the requests you've been asking," Paylor happily greeted and began discussing about the complaints.

"Soma, you also requested?" Lindow asked the hooded boy but Soma didn't answer and instead kept quiet while listening to the complaints.

"Don't worry, Lindow. He's fine. It's not like him to be civil, you see?" Kota joked lightly and it managed a chuckle from Lindow.

"Anyways!" The Director's voice immediately returned their attention to him. "I will show you the data on what I showed to the First Unit's Leader before sending her on this mission." He explained and removed the cover from the screen projector which showed the data.

Everyone quietly looked at the data and after reading it, there were worried faces among them and there was a tense silence. It was even a miracle for Kota to understand the data in front of him without much confusion. Tsubaki glanced at each of their faces which varied from disbelief, horror, shock and worry. But mostly worry.

"Don't screw with me! And you didn't stop her despite knowing this?" Kota angrily yells and Tsubaki worriedly glances at Paylor who was silently gripping his fists and tried to keep calm despite the tension he was in as the Director.

"Yes. It's because that's what she wanted." Paylor silently replies and everyone mutters something on their breath. Kota–who was the rather hot-tempered one here–burst out the room and shuts the door loudly behind him.

Paylor sighs and looks at the remaining five who were glaring at him but their eyes were unfocused because of worry. The only one who kept his cool all the time even while asking for the moon flight was Rei Kagane, as expected from a leader.

"So Director, would you mind explaining us what will we do after we reach there?" Rei asks calmly and everyone turns his attention toward Rei. "Tsubaki will inform everyone in roughly 10,800 seconds. You are dismissed." Paylor replies and everyone leaves the room quietly.

"You really are soft on them. Deleting the part on where Raven will die after giving up the Resonance." Tsubaki quietly tells Paylor who removes his glasses from exhaustion and with a cloth, cleans his glasses.

"It's okay. I'd rather play the villain for now. It's probably crueler to tell them the truth and ruin their hopes right now before departing." Paylor replies worriedly and Tsubaki worriedly places her clipboard on his table.

"But, one of them is rather sharp," Paylor adds silently, "I wasn't able to fool Rei Kagane."

* * *

**(At the Moon while on the move and after seeing Nova's headquarters)**

"Shit. There's a lot of aragami out there." Soma quietly informs the others and Kota quietly peeks outs and returns after seeing the whole place. He quietly grabs a stick and draws the whole map on the ground.

"Okay, judging from what I've seen there are roughly 25 aragami. I'm not sure how many _exactly_ but that's what I can roughly see right now with my ability." Kota informs them quietly and the others nod quietly.

"Okay, we'll go in squads and I'll be the temporary leader of the front lines. Kota, I'll be assigning you as the temporary leader on the gun squad." Rei quietly informs and Kota's eyes widen in shock.

"Why me?" Kota asks in a hushed whisper. "Because you're the only one here capable of enemy tracking while being undetected. Angel is our medic and usually, she would be the leader in this situation but you're the only one capable of seeing the whole area since you're a scout." Rei replies calmly and Lindow nods.

"I agree Kota. Have faith in yourself once in a while." Lindow adds and grins reassuringly at Kota who nods timidly. "Okay, we'll be hacking the front lines. As much as possible, let's go into Burst Mode at the beginning for advantage. Lindow, pass the others some aragami bullets as much as possible."

"Wow Rei, you're really a great leader. No wonder you guys are the only two Lieutenants of the Den." Lindow casually remarks and pats Rei's back who only manages to scratch his head timidly

"Enough of this talk. Shall we go on a rampage?" Rei happily says and everyone nods.

"Let's go and beat up some aragami!" Kota shouts and shoots a bullet up in the air, alerting the aragami ahead of them. The aragami roar toward the direction of the bullet and Rei and the others come out of their cover.

A Privthi Mata roars and instantly tries to shoot some huge icicles which it created but the front lines kept on going. "I'll leave that to you," Soma quietly says but loud enough for Rei to hear who only smirks. Rei slashes the icicles with ease, stopping them from hitting Lindow and Soma with his blade.

The entire aragami herd begins to attack and Lindow laughs, "Why are you laughing?" Soma asks while jabbing the Vajratail in front of him while Lindow shoots a bullet toward a Sariel. "Well, it reminds me of what happened seven years ago on your first mission." He replies and Soma just nods quietly.

Rei charges in without hesitation and jumps away from the icicle attack of the Privthi Mata and with his right foot, pushed himself off the ground and regained his balance by sliding to the opposite direction.

"Duck!" a voice calls out and Rei immediately ducks and aragami blood splashes his God Arc which was in front of him. He peeked in front of him and saw a Kongou dead on the ground. "Thanks for the help, Sakura!" Rei calls out and focuses back on the fight.

"Everyone, close your eyes!" Kota's voice calls out and everyone does so without hesitation despite the herd of aragami in front of them. A white light bursts and the aragami in front are stunned and were standing there while trying to regain their vision from the stun grenade.

"Here we go!" the three front liners shout as they opened their God Arc in Predator Mode.

* * *

"Hey, it's a pretty rare one." Lindow remarks as everyone started devouring the cores to prevent them from coming back. "Hmm, we put up a pretty good fight." Kota happily beams while poking the carcass of the Fallen Kongou in front of him.

"Although, we couldn't really avoid injuries." He adds worriedly as blood drips from his left arm which was bitten by a Kongou. Lindow worriedly looks at Kota at Sakura who were injured and both had wounds as if someone drove a knife to their arm. Chi-you for Sakura and Kongou for Kota.

"It's no big deal." Kota assures Lindow who was looking at him worriedly. Kota glances at Sakura and hands her a 3 recovery pills, "Here, these are all I can hand you for now." He informs her but Sakura shakes her head and pushes his hand away.

"No, use it for your own. I can manage. I'm a leader afterall." She replies assumingly at Kota but it was obvious enough she could hold herself well. "For now, let's take cover and hide here." Angel calls out and points toward a place surrounded by shrubs and trees. It was a good place to hide.

"Seems like a good place. Good work, Angel." Kota says with relief and heads towards the place. They needed to rest a bit especially after the long battle and in preparation for the next one. Everyone follows behind him except for Soma was walking away instead.

"Do you think you're going to where Raven is?" Lindow calls out to Soma. Everyone turns around and worriedly looks at the former 1st Unit Leader and the half-aragami buster blader.

"What if I am?" Soma replies back without looking.

"Wait here with us for while." Lindow replies while slowly approaching him.

"You know that she won't be uninjured when we meet her. That's why you guys aren't getting your injuries treated. Am I right?"

Everyone was silent but everyone knew Soma hit the bull's-eye.

"We don't have enough medicine to completely return her to full health and you all know that we'll need to conserve what medicine we can use for her injuries when we find her. I noticed none of you used a Recovery Pill twice." Soma calls out and everyone stays silent.

"..Soma..." Kota calls out worriedly.

"It's okay, Soma. I've brought enough Elixir S for Raven. I'm sure this is more than enough." Angel worriedly calls out. "Yeah! Don't worry. I've also brought enough pills for you guys!" Sakura adds happily.

"Sure. Then, you might as well treat yourself to health or more casualties will happen." Soma calls out to Kota and Sakura respectively who hesitates at first but agrees. It was hard trying to reason out with Soma once he made up his mind.

"Soma, you can rest for a bit. Stay here and eat with the food we have." Lindow tries to negotiate but Soma merely grunts.

"What if she can't come back no matter how much she wants to?" Soma suddenly says as everyone listened.

"Soma! What are you saying all of the sudden?! You of all the people here is the one who wants to bring her back the most right?!" Kota shouts angrily.

"I'm just speaking the truth. If she's just wounded, that's all right. But what if she dies while we sit here and relax? She won't be coming back then!"

"Raven was prepared for that when she left," Lindow replied bitterly.

"If you knew that, then why.." Soma asks while finally turning around to face Lindow with his God Arc over his shoulder.

"It's exactly because I know. I believe in Raven when she says she'll return to those waiting for her. So I'll wait." Lindow replies and manages a smile.

"Well, I can't wait." Soma replies and turns around and starts walking.

"Are you that afraid to believe in someone?" Lindow questions seriously and starts taking a few steps.

Soma doesn't answer and instead starts walking ahead, ignoring the other's cries.

"Wait." Lindow calls out in a stern voice.

"If you still want to stop me, it will turn into a battle." Soma replies ominously with his back still turned and brings down his God Arc.

"What if…" a voice calls out at them. Soma and Lindow both look back and see Rei walking calmly towards them.

"What if you went to save her and _you_ end up injured?" Rei asks seriously while looking at Soma's gaze with the same intensity of seriousness.

"Then Raven… I mean, your leader, would be hurt even more." Rei adds and Soma worriedly looks down but doesn't look convinced.

"She'd be hurt many more times over the pain that your body will feel. Just the same way that you don't want your leader to feel pain." Rei warns with a serious face and Soma's eyes widen in shock and he brings his God Arc over his shoulder.

"You really are the same. You and Raven that is," Soma replies back in defeat and a smirk forms on his face and begins to join Kota and the others.

(_End of flashback)_

* * *

**(Soma's POV)**

"Don't you dare leave us, Raven! Hang on!" I call over to her as I hear her groan in pain and I see a white-haired figure approaching me.

"Soma! Is she alright?" Angel asks me worriedly and I carefully bring down Raven and let her head rest against my chest. "Well, if you define alright as breathing then she's alright!" I reply worriedly and Angel checks her up immediately.

"Wow, I've never seen such injuries as severe as this in my whole life as a God Eater. It's a miracle she's still alive," Angel informs me worriedly as she starts bringing out her First-Aid kit. She starts on sewing up the wounds on Raven's arms who winced in pain. "It… hurts.." Raven whimpers in pain but Angel focused on her work.

"Calm down, Raven. Just bear with it for a while," I assure her and we suddenly see her armlet glowing and began radiating heat and Angel immediately stops on what she's doing. "What's happening?" I exclaim worriedly and look at Raven's whose face goes pale.

"It.. hurts.. It hurts…" Raven kept repeating and I realize she was referring to her bracelet. "Angel, contact the Director about this!" I tell her worriedly and she contacts the Director at once.

"Director, Miss Raven's armlet bracelet seems to be radiating heat and glowing!" Angel shouts over the earpiece as I grip Raven tightly.

She opens her eyes and looks at me weakly, "It hurts.. Soma," she whispers barely above an octave and I try to regain her sense of reality because I'm scared if she closes her eyes, they won't open again.

"Get a damn grip, Raven! C'mon. Get a grip!" I shout worriedly while tightly gripping her wrist because pain is the only thing that might plant her feet on reality and I notice something crawling up her left arm almost rapidly, like water flowing.

Her left arm slowly takes up an appearance of a dress frill in sky blue and it resembles the arm of a damn Sariel too much. "Crap. What's happening to her?!" I ask Angel worriedly who immediately informs the Director of what's happening to her.

"Raven! Raven!" I shout and her eyes finally open but they were glowing in the color of sky blue. Her eyes began switching colors from her usual emerald green eyes to sky blue. I've seen this happen before and it was with Shio.

The blinking stops and Raven comes to consciousness and sees me, "Soma?" she weakly asks and hurriedly scrambles to her feet only to wince in pain. "What are _you_ doing here?" she asks worriedly and I see the familiar look in her eyes again.

"Hey there, Raven." I greet her back and she looks around us and sees Angel who was chatting at the Director. "What are you guys doing here?" she repeats in a surprised tone as I stand up and gather my bearings.

"We're here on a mission to bring you back to Earth," I reply casually. I could already hear an aragami coming our way and I ready myself for a tough fight. I might as well protect Raven while I'm at it.

"You still haven't told me the things that you wanted to tell me last time," I call out to Raven and her eyes widened in shock. "There are also some remarks that interest me and also some things that I want to keep. That's why,"

I bend down and gently pat Raven's head, "Don't leave me alone," I say to her with a gentle smile and her eyes glisten with tears but she holds them back. She grabs my gloved hand and brushes her cheek against it and mouths me a silent thank you.

"_Soma! A Dyaus Pita and a Tsukuyomi are heading your way!"_ Lindow's voice calls out in my earpiece. "I'm on it," I reply back.

"Soma, where's my God Arc? I can still fight." Raven calls out and staggers to stand up but Angel stops her and forces her to sit down, "The Director says he doesn't know what's happening but are you undergoing aragami transformation?" Angel worriedly asks while applying antiseptic on Raven's wounds.

"Soma, back us up for a lil' bit," Angel commands me. "Gotcha," I reply back and wait for the aragami to start appearing in front of us. "Yes, Nova forced me to undergo transformation." I hear Raven reply softly. That goddamn Nova. Monopolizing Raven as if she were a mere toy.

"What an eyesore," I mutter silently under my breath as the Dyaus Pita starts appearing and the Tsukuyomi. Damn, this will be one hell of a pain in the butt.

* * *

**(Raven's POV)**

I watch the fight as Soma begins it with a charge crush and I shift my attention to Angel who was busily tending my wounds. "I'm sorry to make you do this," I apologized quietly to Angel who gave me a worried look, "Please don't say that. We're doing everything we can to save you right now,"

I merely smile at those words and realized that Paylor must've not told them about my situation, "Jeez, if you say so then." I reply back as she injected me on my elbow. I shout in pain as I felt my injuries go numb. The searing pain in my head and arms were replaced with blissful numbness and it took my all not to sleep with the comfort I was in.

"What is that?" I ask her and she hands me a familiar pill, "That was a very powerful anesthesia; I got it from Miss Sakuya. Oh, and please swallow this pill," she says as she begins stitching my wounds but I don't feel anything, only the feeling of something gently pinching me.

I eat the pill and felt it replenish me almost instantly, it felt good. It was the familiar taste of an Elixir S pill.

I let her finish the stitching on my other free arm and my left arm suddenly felt a sharp burning pain despite the anesthesia and I found the aragami cells quickly working their way through my chest as it tore the left side of my clothing.

"Raven!" Soma worriedly shouts but returns his attention to the Tsukuyomi in front of him. "Crap!" I shout as the pain grows and my upper left half resembled a Sariel's left half after the pain stopped.

"Oh no!" I shout worriedly to Soma, "Soma! I don't wanna wear the unfashionable clothes of the Sariel!"

"What the hell? You're worried about the clothing?!" Soma asks in the midst of battling. Jeez, doesn't he know that outfit matters when you're in the battle field? Well, let's look at the positive side. I can fly now and shoot lasers from my head! Woohoo! I guess...

"Angel, can you hand me your earpiece? I want to ask Rei something," I ask Angel weakly. She worriedly looks at me but hands it to me. I fit the earpiece into my ear and press the button,

"Rei?" I ask weakly with my voice hoarse.

"_Heyya Raven! Nice to talk to you again!"_ he greets cheerfully but I can hear the aragami roaring in his battle.

"Hey Rei. Listen, can you find where my God Arc is? Report it to me if you found it." I reply back and hang up. Oh wait, I forgot Rei was fighting off Nova so letting him find my God Arc is out of the question. I call him again.

"Rei?"

"_Yeah?"_

"Forget about it, I forgot you were fighting Nova. Sorry," I say and I could hear Nova cackling widely on the other end.

"_Yeah sure, contact Kota instead."_

Kota? Kota was here? No way am I going to show my face like that. "Angel, I feel better already. Can you please help me stand up?" I ask Angel weakly as I hand her back her earpiece.

"Raven, please understand. You are in no condition to stand up!" she reasoned out but I looked at her seriously.

"Please?" I ask her again this time with determination and she reluctantly agrees. She wraps my right arm around her neck and grabs her God Arc with her other free hand and we slowly walk. "Raven! Where are you going?!" Soma asks as he dodges Dyaus Pita's leap attack.

"To grab my God Arc," I reply back as we slowly passed by the piles of rubble. We were doing okay for the first 5 minutes until a huge explosion was heard and Nova–who was in Arda Nova female mode–roared on the building and saw me.

"There you are!" Nova shouts and rushes to me. "Noooo!" Angel cries out loud and shoots Nova with homing bullets but Nova easily dodges them with ease. "Your body will be now mine!" Nova shouts as loud as she can but I see someone rushing to me.

"Don't you touch her!" a voice shouts and his blade slashes Nova's hair and Nova shrieks. She started walking like a drunk person on the ground as her hair cells become unbound and she looked at us and grins madly, "How wonderful. Romeo and Juliet meet once again," she moans and walks awkwardly towards us.

"Soma!" I cry out of worry.

"Don't ever be this hasty again!" he scolds me angrily. "You don't have to be worried if you go berserk after you turn into an aragami because I will stop you." He assures me and my eyes widen in shock and disbelief.

"Just think that if you die, we will die together." A voice calls out and I look behind me to see Kota grinning like an idiot. Behind him were Lindow and Sakura and slowly trailing behind us was Rei, clutching hid God Arc.

Nova cackles widely and starts charging for us, "Aw, the family is complete!" she shouts and charges for us. "Miss Raven, forgive me but I have to fight with the others." Angel asks me and releases me as the aragami cells slowly start taking over me.

"Yes… we are always going to be together.." I mumble to myself as a hoard of aragami appear behind Nova. "As much as I hate to say this, everyone disperse!" Rei shouts, surprising all of us.

"If we disperse, we have lesser chances of getting mauled together! Lindow and Angel, you go east! Sakura and I will go west! Kota and Soma, you stay here and fight Nova. Let's go!" Rei shouts and everyone gets into position and sure enough Rei was right, the aragami dispersed and left the battlefield to Soma, Kota and I. Well, mostly Soma and Kota since I don't have a God Arc.

"Soma! Kota!" I call out weakly and they both look back at me.

"I'm glad I met you guys!" I say and grin widely before the battle starts.

* * *

**(Soma's POV)**

I face Nova as I let Raven calm down for a bit since turning into a damn aragami was painful for her. Shit, why can't I do anything to save her?

I glare at Nova who was grinning back at me with much excitement, "Just so you know, I have no intention of letting you go away. Undo the transformation." I tell her in a low voice and she stops smiling and her face turns serious, "Aaah.. if I say no, you will kill me and undo the transformation?" she questions me and lowers her body and it starts glowing.

She returns back to Shio's body and a playful grin forms on her face, "Tch, I hate passionate love stories." She mumbles and brings out Shio's God Arc. I steady my blade on attacking mode as she slowly walks towards us.

"Kota!" I shout and Kota fires at her direction immediately but she leaps up into the air and tries to plunge her damn blade into my head but I use my blade as a shield, deflecting her attack.

"As expected from the knight closest to the queen," she remarks and leaps backward and she holds out her blade behind her back, "I don't want anyone interfering with my Apocalypse plan which is why I must kill you." She threatens and looks back at Raven who was slumping in the ground as Raven tries to stop the aragami cells from overtaking her. Her upper half had already grown the Sariel's skirt but her head was still normal.

"_Or_ I can kill a certain person here. If I kill her, her aragami cells will also speed up. This was my primary objective from the start anyways," Nova calls out while licking the blood from her blade and charges to Raven.

I rush to her. Rush to her without hesitation.

"Raven!" I shout out loud and drop my God Arc.

"NO!" a scream escapes Kota's lips. I rush to Raven and hug her.

Nova was getting closer now, "I'm glad I met you, Raven." I whisper to her ear and gently plant a kiss on her forehad.

I tensed my body as I waited for the blade to make contact. It did make contact... straight on Raven's chest.

My eyes widened in horror and disbelief as her blood splashed on my face and I felt someone cover my eyes.

"Soma, please do not look." A hushed voice echoes behind me and she doesn't let go of her hand in my eyes.

"Soma, always remember my heart belongs to you." The same voice calls out and I turned around to face Raven. She looked happy and resembled a spirit since her body was transparent but her warmth was just the same.

Raven cups my face and brushes away the bangs on my face, "I am so glad I was able to meet you," she whispers as tears ran down her cheeks and a thankful smile was on her face.

"Raven!" Kota shouts in complete horror and it pulls me back to reality. "No, Soma! Don't look!" Raven warns me with extreme urgency in her voice.

I turn back just in time to see Raven being decapitated in front of my own eyes.

My eyes are frozen in horror and shock as Raven's body slumps to the ground and her head lies on the ground. I approach it slowly, "Raven?" I choke back a sob as tears threaten to fall from my eyes.

"NOOO! Dammit!" Kota shouts and begins firing like crazy on Nova and she starts grinning and cackling widely and runs away.

"Ra.. Raven.." I call out to the body that was hugging mine just a while ago. I found it hard to breathe and felt a heavy feeling on my chest. I've always felt that heavy feeling in my chest when someone freakin' dies in front of me but I've never felt this intense terror before. The terror of knowing she will never come back anymore and you have to live with it.

"Raven? Wake up!" I call out in frustration and Kota approaches me with tears in his eyes and frustration on his eyes.

"She's gone, Soma. She's dead."

That can't be. No. No. No. No. She can't be dead. But she was lifeless in front of me.

_She died in front of me._

I allow reality to sink in and I hear someone on my earpiece. But I am deaf to its pleas. All I can hear is Raven's voice echoing in my head. I brush Raven's hair away from her head and suddenly, I was drawn into another world.

It was Raven's resonance.

I enter a place filled with her memories and all her memories of staying here flashed before my very eyes like a video tape. Like a death record of her life. I witnessed all the hell she went through, the new aragami she fought, the scene on where she drank Nova's damn blood.

She got through it all.

All the memories of her entire existence pass by my eyes but it was so fast, like a blur. However, there was one memory that perked up my interest. It was Raven and my mother talking, it looked like a serious talk.

"_Raven, about Soma…" my Mom started worriedly but Raven shook her head immediately._

"_We've talked. I said, 'I'm glad I met you guys!' or something like that." My Mom looked at her worriedly and Raven was still smiling. It looked like a fake smile. She was obviously forcing herself to smile. I don't know why she was forcing herself to damn smile._

"_Ah, but even though I've said those words, I can never forgive him for deciding that I should live. If I forgive him, we might get close again and I'll lose sight of my real objective." She adds happily. I felt a smirk forming on my face. _

_So she never forgave me in the end, huh? It wasn't like her to not forgive someone so easily._

"_My son didn't come to save you because you two had spent time together–!"_

"_Even so! I don't want to make anyone unhappy anymore. I don't want the feelings I prepared while coming here to become a lie."_

"_Raven, there's one thing you need to remember. To all the members of your home, you are no longer someone who passes through their life and is forgotten." My Mom reminds her and cups Raven's face comfortingly. _

_Did she treat the Den as her home? Come to think of it, I've never heard Raven talk about her previous home._

_There was sadness in Raven's eyes and my Mom poked Raven's forehead, "You have become someone very important to them. Your hardships are their hardships too." My Mom says with a smile. _

_Suddenly, Raven's thoughts of that moment flowed right through the tape. The tape froze and Raven's thoughts were heard._

"_More effective than being slapped at… more effective than a lecture…and more effective than a slap in the face.. Prof. Gauche's gentle smile made it so clear how stubborn I have been…"_

_The tape began playing again and Raven held my Mom's hand. Raven had a serious look in her eyes, "Prof. Gauche, can you please grant this one request I have?" _

"_If I can do it then yes, I shall."_

"_In the last moment of my life, I want to see Soma one last time and tell him everything I'm thankful for," _

_There was a tense silence and Aisha nodded, "I've already placed your wish when I poked your forehead. However, you will use it right now. Look, Raven.."_

_Raven looked at where Aisha was pointing and horror was on Raven's face, "Soma!"_

_The scene where the sword penetrated her happened immediately and her last wish was granted._

"Soma! Snap out of it!" a voice calls out in my world. I snap awake and I see Kota with his eyes red and he was obviously forcing himself to be strong, "Rei and the others are coming here. We might as well defeat Nova." He calls out and forces me up.

"Why kill her now? Why didn't you kill her before she killed Raven?!" I snarl and grip Kota's collar and more tears ran down his cheek, "I did Soma! I did! I tried!" he cried out over and over again and I raise my fist and make it contact onto his face before a gloved hand stops me in time.

"Soma, that's enough." Lindow hushes me and lends me his damn shoulder to which I find actually very supporting. "No, she can't be dead… is she?" Sakura asks me worriedly with hope in her eyes but I shake my head and tears spill on her eyes.

"She was a brave woman," Lindow says with his voice wavering. Judging by his voice, it sounds like he's choking back a sob. He looks away from Raven's body and I see Rei bending down, "What are you doing?" I ask in a choked voice.

"I might as well close her eyes." Rei replied bitterly and closes the eyes to Raven's body. In the distance, I can still hear Nova cackling widely.

"I'm going after her," I steady my voice and I try to chase after her. "Soma, be careful." Lindow calls out and I nod.

* * *

**(Nova's Part)**

Nova ran away from the God Eaters, she was the last aragami alive and she won't stand a chance against them. She knows it. Nova looks at her arm and sees the mark Raven left earlier while gripping Nova's God Arc glowing. And the glowing pain was hurting her. It was searing through her flesh.

_Faster. I must run faster!_ Nova thought and heard a soft rustling sound behind her and this time, she paused despite the pain. That didn't really sound like the wind. And it seemed close by, in the forest somewhere behind her.

As she listened, she heard a crashing sound in the underbush and the pain this time was making its way throughout her body. "Damn it!" she cursed and then there was silence. She waited again and heard it again. It sounded distinctly like something big, moving slowly through the forest toward her.

Something near. Something dangerous.

_Get out of here._

Nova began to run. She made a lot of noise as she ran but even so, she could hear the thing crashing through the foliage and it was swinging something big and heavy.

It was coming closer.

Stumbling over tree roots in darkness, clawing her way past the branches, she saw their rocket up ahead and it made her feel better. In a moment, she'd be in the rocket and then she'd get the hell out of here. She scrambled to her feet and then froze.

The God Eaters were there and one was missing.

She looked back and saw that the thing was behind her but it wasn't a thing. It was _someone_. It was the buster blader and he was also the Director's son.

Nova waited to see if he would attack. It didn't. Perhaps it was still shocked with the murder of his queen she did in front of him.

The buster blader glared at her then its stormy blue eyes widened in shock and she realized he was looking on what was happening to her body. Her skin was already starting to tingle and burn. And her hand was starting to tingle too. It was almost like she had touched acid.

Nova checked to see where it was coming from and realized her body was being purified. This feeling was the one thing she feared the most.

It was the Resonance.

Raven must've did it at the right moment and it had a delayed reaction. Nova felt a sudden, excruciating pain in her eyes, stabbing like spikes on the back of her skull and she squeezed her eyes shut and gasped with the intensity of the pain the resonance brought.

She glanced at Soma and realized he was just looking at her moaning in pain and he made no signs to help her. There was hatred in his eyes.

Even as she realized it, the burning pain overwhelmed her, and she dropped to her knees, disoriented, wheezing. She collapsed to her side, her cheek pressed to the hard ground, her breath coming in thin whistles through the constant ever-screaming pain that caused flashing spots of light to appear behind her tightly shut eyes.

"_You are despicable, Nova." _ A voice called out and Nova saw Raven standing in front of her, jabbing her God Arc in front of her.

"_This is the end of you." _Raven called out_._

The earth crunched behind her and Nova knew the buster blader was going to kill her and despite the pain she forced her eyes open and still saw nothing but flashing spots against black. Slowly the realization came to her.

She was blind.

The crunching was louder now as Nova scrambled to her feet and staggered back against the wall of rock behind her. The buster blader was close now, she could _feel_ it coming close, she was dimly aware of its gritting teeth.

But she couldn't see.

She couldn't see anything and her terror was extreme.

She stretched out her hands, waving them wildly in the air to ward off the attack she knew was coming. And then, there was a new, searing pain, like a fiery knife to the belly, and Nova stumbled, reaching blindly to touch the ragged edge of her shirt, and then a slippery, thick mass that was surprisingly warm, and with horror she suddenly knew she was holding her intestines in her own hands.

The buster blader had torn her open. Her guts had fallen out.

"Disappear from my sight, Nova." His husky voice called out but all Nova heard was the voice of Raven calling out the same words from Soma's mouth and the horror of realization was followed by a final wish, that it would all end soon.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

**(But Wait! There's still an epilogue Q A Q!)**

_H-hey! So, how's the ending? Face it guys, Raven died. Q A Q OMG! First time making a protagonist die! I was actually crying at the part on where she dies. Yes, crying over my own fave character._

_BTW, I didn't do this alone. I copied some of the parts from Jurassic part especially Nova's death and for Raven's death, I followed it from the manga InuxBoku. :D I also used Tsubasa Choronicles for reference._

_I know you are practically going to hate me for the tragedy ending but it's impossible for the aragami to be extinct since there will be GE2 so I made Raven sacrifice herself instead and defeated Nova but she didn't manage to exterminate all the aragami. _

_Rei has a huge part on this story neh? _

_To be honest, this had a huge gap on what I expected it to end. The "original" ending is that Raven STILL dies but defeats Nova with Aisha's will and the ending was a peaceful reign on Earth with Soma ending up with another girl he fell in love with but Raven still stays number one in his heart. The "supposed" ending pairings are SomaxNewGirl, LindowxSakuya, KotaxAlisa, HibarixTatsumi and I guess ReixAngel._

_I love Rei's character actually :3 Please leave a review, fave, follow and whatevs. Wow, it's the last chapter. Wow. Wow._

_Should I make an epilogue? Haha, I guess I should. So here it goes. (Sorry if you thought it was the end.)_

* * *

"**EPILOGUE"**

**(Soma's POV)**

"Soma!" a voice calls out and I look back to see Kota rushing hurriedly towards me. He had a bandana tied around his forehead and was wearing the similar outfit as before only this one was more stylish. He also cut his hair three years after that incident.

"What?" I replied back as Alisa followed behind him and she also grew prettier in three years. Don't get me wrong, I don't give a damn about her since she already belongs to Kota.

She patted my shoulder and grins happily, "Hey Soma, we've been called by 'Blood' and they said that we're helping out their rookie that's climbing up the ranks lately!" she announces happily.

But I can see the mischievous glint in her eyes, "I heard she was the New-type who was compatible with Raven's God Arc." She adds but I ignore the last sentence she said.

"Is that so? Wait, 'Blood' are Fenrir's affiliates who reside in a mobile base right?" I ask them and Kota nods.

"Yeah, they're investigating the 'Red Rain' project apparently." Alisa says and we all look outside the window that was renovated a year ago so the Den would look more lively and brighter. The window projected what the world looked like before the aragami arrived and it seemed like a great world to live in.

"You've stopped wearing your hood, haven't you, Soma?" Kota asks me all of the sudden and I glare at him. "Back off, you've stopped wearing that funny hat too," I say to Kota but the both of them react at me.

"What funny hat?!" Alisa and Kota both exclaim angrily and they look at each other and blush. I can't help but smile at the thought that they've remained strong despite Raven's death three years ago.

"It's funny how we matured so quickly in three years. A bit lonely that she passed away," Alisa calls out softly with sadness in her eyes. "Yeah, it would've been fun if she were here to bicker around." Kota adds and I cross my arms over my chest and they both look at me, knowing I had an intimate relationship with her.

"Well, the only thing we can do now is fight for our lives and continue on living–not surviving–on this forsaken world." I answer back and they both nod at me when Hibari's voice calls us over the speakers.

"Calling Soma Schicksal, Kota Fujiki, and Alisa Amellia. Please head off to the Executive Section."

"Oh man! Another boring discussion with old man Paylor! How old is this guy anyway?" Kota complains and a playful grin forms on his face.

"I heard he uses some kind of lotion to stay young. Wanna find out?" Kota asks the both of us with a huge grin on his face. Alisa and I looked at each other and sighed exasperatedly, he was still immature as ever.

"Calling Kota Fujiki, I do not use lotion to stay young. I repeat, I do not use lotion to stay young!" Paylor's damn voice calls out and Kota screams as Paylor suddenly binds him with ropes. I shudder at the sight of ropes after remembering what happened three years ago with Paylor and Raven.

"Lemme go old man!" Kota struggles as Paylor holds up some kind of liquid which I realize very well. "You know this liquid right, Soma?" Paylor asks me while smiling and the look on my face was evident enough to Kota that it was frightening enough.

"Crap! Heeeelpppp me!"

* * *

P.S The liquid here in something based on my other one-shot on GEB. I still haven't posted it yet but I hope you read it to understand the epilogue. It was a _frightening_ liquid for Soma but not for Raven. :333

Hope you guys liked my fanfic!

Please check my account to see the one-shot which is still on process while I write this on June 9, 2013. Yes, please support my future GE2 fanfic as well. See ya guys again! Many thanks to all of you who've supported me!

Schicksall-TillMyLastBreath logging out!


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